Top 10 airports in Kenya and all you need to know

About top 10 airports in Kenya

Kenya is growing immensely in the aviation business. The Kenyan airports are undergoing massive expansion in order to accommodate the demand for air travel among the citizens.

The Kenyan government has endeavored to ensure growth in the tourism sector by improving the current airports in Kenya.

Here are the top 10 airports in Kenya.

1. Jomo Kenyatta International Airport

It is located in Kenya’s Capital Nairobi. The airport boasts of over 40 passenger airlines and 25 cargo airlines. JKIA is Kenya Airport’s Authority flagship project. It has gained its place as the busiest airport not only in Kenya but also in East Africa. It is also Kenya’s largest aviation facility.

It has one runway which is 60 meters wide and 4.2 kilometers long. However in January 2017 plans to build a second runway were approved. The second runway will be much bigger than the first one. The new runway will complement the older one which was built in the 1970s. The proposed design of the project is a 4.8 kilometers long and 75 meter wide runway. The airport reported a total of 7,000,000 passengers were served in 2016.

2. Moi International Airport

Located in the coastal city of Mombasa and is run by Kenya Airports Authority. It is named after the second president of Kenya Daniel Moi. It has two runways. Runway 1 is 3.35 kilometers long while Runway 2 measures 1.26 kilometers. Runway one is equipped with an Instrument Landing System (ILS).

3. Manda Airport

It is located in Lamu and was upgraded to an airport in 2015. The airport has two runways measuring 1000m in length and 18m in width. The second runway is unpaved and measures 931m long and 14m wide. It is part of the ambitious LAPSSET (Lamu Port and Lamu-Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor) together with Isiolo and Lake Turkana International airports.

4. Isiolo Airport

The airport was recently expanded and is part of the ambitious LAPSSET Corridor. The Airport was launched in July 2017 by Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta. It has a 2.5 kilometer runway and has capacity to handle 125,000 passengers annually. It also has the capacity to handle big aircrafts like Boeing 737s.

The airport is Northern Kenya’s first international airport and is a flagship of Kenya’s Vision 2030.

5. Kisumu International Airport

The airport is located at the Kenyan lakeside city of Kisumu in Kisumu County. It is the third largest airport in Kenya and the busiest in western Kenya. The airport was expanded in 2011 at a cost of about Sh3 billion. The expansion included building of a new terminal and extension of the runway from 2 kilometers to 3.3 kilometers.

After the expansion the airport can handle 700 passengers per hour translating to 2,000,000 passengers a year. The airport can also handle large-capacity passenger and cargo airport.

6. Wilson Airport

The airport is located in Kenya’s capital Nairobi and specializes in handling local flights. The airport has two runways measuring 1.5 kilometers long and 22 meters wide while the other measures 1.54 kilometers and 23 meters wide.

Missionary aviation operators AMREF, Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) and AIM AIR use the airport as their airport base on the African continent.

The airport is also used for aviation training.

7. Eldoret International Airport

It is located 16 kilometers south ofEldoret town on the Eldoret-Kisumu road. The airport is open from Monday to Sunday from 0330hours to 1730hours GMT, but the hours can be extended on request. Currently the airport has three scheduled international cargo flights and several ad hoc freighters per week.

The airport has a single asphalt runway that measures 3.4 kilometers.

8. Lokichogio Airport

It is located at Lokichogio town in Turkana county North West of Kenya. It is home to one of the world’s largest and longest running humanitarian aid projects. These global aid projects such as the United Nations, UNICEF, and World Food Program to South Sudan.

It is situated at 645m above sea level and has a single asphalt runway which measures 1.8 kilometers in length and 19 meters wide.

9. Malindi Airport

It is located at the coastal town of Malindi which is home to several tourist attraction sites. It is a major tourist town that attracts many tourists annually therefore the Kenyan government earmarked the airport for expansion. The airport has two bitumen runways measuring 1.5 kilometers long which is due to be extended to 2.5 kilometers. The second one measures 1.08 kilometers.

10. Wajir Airport

Located four kilometers from Wajir town and about 100 kilometres from Gerille, on the border with Somalia, the airport was established primarily for military activities. The airport opens daily operations at 0630 hours and closes at 1830 hours is open to all types of aircraft i.e propeller and jet engine.

It has a single asphalt runway measuring 2.8 kilometers long.

The airport was commissioned in September 2007 by the Kibaki administration. It was initially meant to act as a control point for commercial flights from Somalia for security reasons.

Airlines operating at the airport include Sax Company, Freedom Airline, Skyward Express, Dubai African Express and Juba Airways.

Having completed the construction on an abattoir, the airport will see the exportation of meat to the United Arab Emirates and other Middle East Countries.

References

Wikipedia.com

Kenya Airports Authority

nation.co.ke

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Top 10 airports in Kenya and all you need to know