Wilson Airport

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Wilson Airport
IATA: WIL - ICAO: HKNW
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Kenya Airports Authority
Serves		Nairobi
Elevation AMSL		5,536 ft (1,687 m)
Coordinates		01°19′18″S, 36°48′54″E
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
14/32	5,052	1,540	Asphalt
07/25	4,798	1,462	Asphalt

Wilson Airport (IATA: WIL, ICAO: HKNW) is located five kilometres south of Nairobi, Kenya, next to Langata, South c and Kibera. The airport has been in operation since 1933. The airport serves both domestic and international traffic. It used mostly by light aircraft. Industries that uses its services extensively are tourism, health care and agriculture. The airport has an average traffic of around 120,000 landings and take offs annually. Airkenya and other small airlines use Wilson Airport for scheduled domestic passenger services, instead of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the main airport in Nairobi. Missionary aviation operators MAF and AIM AIR use Wilson Airport as their African base. The airport is used also for Flight training. The airport is controlled by the Kenya Airports Authority (KPA).

[edit] History

The airport was originally founded in 1933 as Nairobi Aerodrome, and was used for Air mail by Imperial Airways. The airport was renamed to Wilson Airport in 1962. It was named after Ms Florence Kerr Wilson, a pioneer of aviation in Kenya.