KISUMU INTERNATIONAL – FINALLY
Construction on the expanded runway, taxiway and apron is gradually nearing completion at the Kisumu airport, after the terminal building and other facilities had been upgraded and expanded before already.
The ‘new’ Kisumu airport, which on the occasion of ‘inaugurating’ it by the end of July is expected to be named a new international airport, will then have runway of 3.3 kilometres length, capable for the landing and takeoff by all wide bodied aircraft presently in use. Passenger throughput capacity has been raised to as many as 700 per hour, although that is not expected to be fully utilized until a much later stage.
Presently the airport is served by daily jet and turboprop flights from Nairobi and airlines like Kenya Airways, Fly 540 and Jetlink, amongst others, offer a choice of connections spread across the day to suit business and leisure travelers.
After Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and Wilson Airport in Nairobi, Moi International Airport in Mombasa, Malindi and Eldoret, Kisumu’s importance as an aviation gateway has significantly increased in recent years, taking the airport to number three amongst the ‘main’ airports, i.e. after Nairobi and Mombasa, with Wilson Airport, due to its special status for general aviation as well as ‘safari flights’ being in a different league altogether.
Watch this space for the announcement later in July, that the ‘tape’ was officially cut, making ‘Kisumu International’ finally a reality.
