Kenya Airways completes first Boeing 787 landing gear replacement in-house

What the report says

Kenya Airways says it has completed its first in-house landing gear replacement on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a development the airline described as a milestone for its Engineering and Maintenance division. The operation was announced on Tuesday and was carried out by the carrier’s own teams, covering aircraft jacking, removal and replacement of the gear, system integration, testing and certification.

According to the report from Nile Post, the work expands Kenya Airways’ heavy-maintenance capability on the Dreamliner and supports its aim of becoming a larger maintenance, repair and overhaul, or MRO, provider in Africa. The airline said the achievement shows growing technical capacity within its engineering workforce and fits its wider ambition to serve beyond its own fleet. The piece notes that Kenya Airways had previously signed an agreement with Boeing in 2022 covering landing gear exchange support for its 787 aircraft.

The development matters because landing gear is a safety-critical aircraft system and maintenance on wide-body jets such as the 787 typically requires specialized equipment, inspection and certification before return to service. In broader industry terms, African airlines have been working to build more advanced maintenance capabilities locally, partly to reduce dependence on overseas facilities and keep more technical work on the continent. The report also places Kenya Airways’ step alongside similar efforts by other regional carriers to expand in-house maintenance capacity.