This archive report was first published on 21 August 2019.
On August 21, 2019, Kenya Airways announced that it had hired Aviation and Aeroscope Consulting Services (ICF), a UK-based firm with operations in Asia and America, to investigate a collision between two Embraer jets at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in February 2019.
The incident, which caused multi-million-shilling damage to the two planes, was widely reported on social media after employees of the airline leaked pictures of the damaged planes.
According to ICF's proposal for engineering and maintenance support for Kenya Airways, the airline has suffered a number of maintenance incidents resulting in serious damage to aircraft that could have endangered the lives of those involved or those in the vicinity.
Outgoing Kenya Airways CEO Sebastian Mikosz signed the contract, which will see ICF earn Sh25 million ($250,000) upon completion of the work expected to take about one year.
Kenya Airways stated that it has had a long-standing relationship with ICF, dating back to 2013, and their main service has been to provide independent aviation audits in respect to technical reliability and capacity of both fleet and personnel.
However, the airline noted that there are no local experts who have the international recognition required for this assignment.
ICF proposed to send a team of four consultants to Nairobi to perform the task for a period of between six and 12 months.
The firm will provide Kenya Airways with a detailed written report listing the findings and observations from the time spent on site.
