The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) has announced plans to auction 101 planes in various airports to recover accumulated parking fees after their owners defaulted on payments. KAA has given the owners 30 days to claim their aircraft, failure to which the planes will be auctioned as KAA moves to declare the planes a safety risk.
“The said aircraft will be sold by public auction and the proceeds of the sale shall be defrayed against any incurred charges and the balance if any shall remain at the owners’ credit but should there be a shortfall, the owner shall be liable thereof,” KAA Acting Managing Director Alex Gitari says in the latest Kenya Gazette notice.
The planes include some owned by commercial flight operators such as 748 Air Services, Silverstone, Jetlink and Fly540, and others owned by politicians and wealthy businessmen.
KAA will also not spare aircraft belonging to state agencies like the Kenya Police, Moi University, and Somalia Airforce.
“The aircraft must be removed within 30 days from the date of publication of this notice and upon payment of all outstanding charges and any incidental costs including the cost of publication of this notice,” further read the notice.
Large aircraft pay $25 (Ksh2,707) in parking fees at airports like Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
The planes are also required to pay $585 (Ksh63,355) to land during the day and $702 (Ksh76,000) to land during night.
Small planes are required to pay $15 (Ksh1,625) in parking fees every day and $223 (Ksh24,150) to land during the day and $268 (Ksh29,000) to land during the night.