#NAIROBI’S JOMO KENYATTA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT SEES 2.2 PERCENT PLUS IN 2017
(Posted 02nd May 2018)
Data now released by the Kenya Bureau of Statistics show an increase of passengers handled at the country’s principal entry and exit point of 2.2 percent to an overall figure of 7.3 million passengers. Passengers in transit through Nairobi increased by 2.7 percent to 1.25 million passengers, choosing to connect to their final destination in Nairobi rather than other regional airports.
Figures obtained for Mombasa’s Moi International Airport suggest a static situation with numbers hardly different from 2016 when 1.2 million passengers used the airport, generated from domestic and regional flights and international tourist charters. This poses a challenge for the tourism industry along the Kenya coast where the upswing seen in the country of tourism arrivals – mainly via Nairobi – has been significantly slower, despite the Kenyan government putting incentive packages into place for charter flights to Mombasa.
Nairobi’s Wilson Airport retains its leading role in Eastern Africa as the airport of choice for beach and bush flights, covering coastal destinations Lamu, Malindi, Vipingo, Mombasa and Ukunda while otherwise also serving a growing number of non tourism related destinations in upcountry Kenya besides all the scheduled and charter services into the country’s national parks.
Traffic into the newly opened Isiolo Airport however is performing way under expectations at present, prompting calls for additional marketing efforts to promote air services to Isiolo and link these flights to safari camps and lodges in the wider area – a challenge as several camp and lodge owned landing strips allow for direct flights to those locations.
Traffic through all of Kenya’s designated airport in 2017 rose to an overall figure of 10.1 million, an increase of 3.5 percent.
