Industry

Birds fly in the way of airport plan to go international

airport

Passengers alight at Kisumu Airport: It is threatened by birds that fly across the facility to nearby dumping grounds. File

Kisumu Airport risks missing the benefits of direct international flights after upgrade if risks posed by birds persist.

The airport, which hosts more than 250 aircraft per month, is being expanded to international standards at a cost of about Sh3 billion but the location of bird habitats has raised concerns.

Birds fly across the airport from a municipal council dumpsite, which is about seven kilometres away, grain silos about a kilometre away and a fish bones processing plant five kilometres from the airport.

Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) deputy managing director Matthew Wamalwa said bird strikes can cost millions of dollars in losses to airlines, a risk which keeps investors away from airports frequented by birds.

“Most airlines cannot handle losses brought about by bird strikes since it can cost more than $4 million (Sh348 million) to replace a damaged engine and the risk of losing lives is even greater,” he said. International aviation standards require wildlife and other hazards to be controlled within a 13 kilometre radius from the airport, requiring action from stakeholders such as local authorities and environment managers.

Kisumu East District Commissioner Mabeya Mogaka said the dumpsite concern would be addressed through recycling because the alternative sites proposed were also along flight path.

The Wildlife Hazard Committee chairman in East Africa Mr George Amutete said tropical Africa was mostly affected by bird strikes due to climatic conditions that favour their breeding.

Nigeria loses about Sh9 billion while the US loses about Sh52 billion per year to bird strikes.

In Uganda, bird strike risks reduced drastically at one of the airports after a dumpsite which was close to a runway was moved about 20 kilometres away, according to a Kampala-based wildlife hazard consultant Ms Gloria Kirabo.

“The risk cannot be overemphasised since birds found at such places are not as small as those in grain fields so a solution must be found to move the dumpsite,” she said.

Big birds such as the lumbering Marabou stork and the vulture which can fly over 20 feet above the ground are among the major threats to aviation safety.

A report by the KAA places Kisumu Airport with the second-highest bird strike rate with 27 per year after Lokichoggio airstrip which records 40 per year.

Besides inadequate support from key stakeholders, Mr Amutete said the human resource base to deal with bird strikes is also wanting, with Kisumu currently having only two personnel in the department.

Aviation stakeholders who attended a three day symposium on human-wildlife conflict in aviation in Kisumu clarified that strategies to mitigate bird strikes must also ensure that the rights of wildlife to exist are sustained in the process.