Arusha, Tanzania: Arriving in Nairobi, Kenya (NBO)

16MAR08 Jomo Kenyata International, Nairobi Kenya (NBO)

We exited the runway and made a right turn to head back to the main terminal.

I could see an Emirates (EK) Airbus A330 taxiing to the gate having just landed before us.

The flight attendant came on the PA and announced that our time on the ground would be 45 minutes and we should all stay onboard; bummer. Ethiopian does not have the rights to carry passengers from Tanzania to Kenya, hence the reason why we had to all stay onboard.

It was awesome to see all the Kenya Airways’ (KQ) airplanes in their vibrant red, white and blue. There was a Boeing 767-300ER, a Boeing 777-200, a Boeing 737-700 and a Boeing 737-300.

We pulled up to our gate, right next to the Emirates A330 on our right and a Kenyan Airways Boeing 777-200 on the left. We had actually pulled up to what looked like the only hard stand at the terminal; cool!

As soon as the doors opened a guy who was also on the flight came to the door with his camera and asked if he could take pictures. The flight attendant said yes, so I joined him. For the two of us, it was an unprecedented picture of KQ’s Boeing 777-200 up close and quite personal.




Another guy showed up as well and we noticed that he had a new Nikon, the D40X; we were talking about switching lens and as it turns out, his lens will fit on my camera and vice versa, but the cameras won’t focus at all. Bummer, I thought. His lens was so much lighter than mine as well.

As we stood there, another flight attendant came by and said we can’t take pictures due to security reasons; really? We all looked at each other and then returned to our seats dejected.

The cleaners came on board and I wondered why since there was no service, so there is no trash. They did take off trash from the toilets though.

Other planes passed by as well including an Embraer ERJ-175 in KQ colors, plus a Precision Air Atr42 as well as a Boeing 737-300 and a Boeing 737-700 both in KQ colors.