(Posted 02nd January 2026)
Kenya’s President Ruto, in his address to the nation on New Year’s Day, announced that construction of a new airport facility at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport will commence later this year.
He described the new facility as a: ‘modern, world?class airport at JKIA from 2026, a transformative investment in Kenya’s role as the region’s aviation hub.’
Last year, i.e. 2025, Kenya’s main international airport handled approximately 8.6 million passengers against a capacity of 7.5 million, underscoring the urgency of new infrastructure to support projected growth.
The construction of a new additional terminal – to be known as Greenfield – and a second long overdue runway, was inexplicably halted some years ago during the Kenyatta presidency, costing the country a small fortune in compensation claims from the construction company, effectively delaying this project by way too many years, leaving aviation growth to neighbouring Ethiopia where the existing Bole International Airport was substantially expanded while a completely new airport will be constructed in Bishoftu, some 40 Km outside Addis Ababa.
