KISUMU OPENS NEW TERMINAL AND FACILITIES
The long awaited day has dawned that the new buildings and facilities at Kisumu Airport were finally handed over and opened their doors to airlines, service providers and passengers. The new terminal, able to handle 500 passengers an hour with ease, has state of the art facilities, shops and restaurants, unlike the rather crowded and tired old buildings. The runway too has crucially been extended from the initial 2.000 metres to 3.300 metres, which now permits the safe landing and takeoff by larger aircraft including cargo planes which can fly produce and chilled fish directly to the consumer markets in Europe and the Middle East, without having to truck the cargos first to Nairobi.
Next in line for opening in October are the new facilities at Malindi Airport, and while both will see an official tape cutting and commemorative plaque revealing at a later stage, the aviation fraternity nevertheless will be happy to see that at last two of the countrys airports have now returned to a fully functional state as they wait for Nairobis Jomo Kenyatta International to follow suit in a few years time. For now it is happy landings to Kenya Airways, Jetlink and all the others flying scheduled services between Nairobi and Kisumu.
