This archive report was first published on 12 August 2019.
On Sunday, a Fly540 airplane was forced to delay its take-off at Manda Airport in Lamu after one of its tyres got stuck in a pothole on the runway.
The plane, which was scheduled to take off at 12:30pm, had 36 passengers on board and was delayed for about 30 minutes.
Engineers and airport staff had to be called to assist in pushing the plane out of the pothole and parking it at a safer location on the runway.
According to a Fly540 official, the pilot had to stop the plane after realising that one of the tyres was stuck in a huge pothole on the runway.
"The plane was about to take-off but it was a bit difficult. The pilot had to stop after realising that one of the plane's tyres was stuck in a huge pothole on the runway. Engineers and airport staff had to be called and assisted in pushing the plane out and parked it at a safer location on the runway from where it was finally able to take-off safely," said the official.
Passengers have called on the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) to repair the Manda Airport runway.
This is not the first time a plane has gotten stuck in a pothole on the runway. In May 2018, a video shared by a worker at one of the airlines at Wilson Airport showed staff trying to free the wheel of a plane trapped in a pothole.
"It's a sad situation. Planes get stuck often, and it is the workers who are usually responsible of pulling them out of the potholes," said one of the workers.
