Jomo Kenyatta International Airport

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport

Aerial view of the terminal
IATA: NBO – ICAO: HKJK
Summary
Airport type		Joint (Civil and Military)
Operator		Kenya Airports Authority
Location		Nairobi, Kenya
Hub for		Fly540 Kenya Airways
Elevation AMSL		5,327 ft / 1,624 m
Coordinates
Website		www.kenyaairports.co.ke
Map
NBO Location within Kenya
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
06/24	13,507	4,117	Asphalt
Statistics (2007)
Passengers			5,104,791
Source: List of the busiest airports in Africa

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, (IATA: NBO, ICAO: HKJK) formerly called Embakasi Airport and Nairobi International Airport, is Kenya's largest aviation facility, and the busiest airport in Eastern & Central Africa. It is the 6th busiest airport in Africa. The airport is named after the first Kenyan prime minister and president Jomo Kenyatta.

Kenyatta airport is located in Embakasi, a suburb to the south-east of Nairobi. The airport is situated 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from Nairobi's Central Business District, and at the edge of the city's built up area. The Mombasa Highway runs adjacent to the airport, and is the main route of access between Nairobi and the airport; a rail link is planned.^[1]

The airport is the main hub of Kenya Airways, JetLink Express and Fly540. Jomo Kenyatta airport is served by a single Runway 06/24. Runway 06 is ILS-equipped, and is used for take-offs and landings. The airport is served by one terminal building constructed in the 1970s. The former "Embakasi" terminal, now used for cargo and for a Kenya Air Force training facility, was constructed before the 1960s.

The airport served 4,922,542 passengers in 2008.^[2]

1 History
2 Terminal
3 Future expansion
4 Airlines and destinations
- 4.1 Charter airlines
- 4.2 Cargo airlines
5 Other facilities
6 Accidents and incidents
7 References
8 External links

History

Nairobi Embakasi Airport was opened in May 1958, by the last colonial Governor of Kenya, Sir Evelyn Baring. The airport was due to be opened by Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, however, she was delayed in Australia and could not make the ceremony.^[3]

Later the current terminal was built on the other side of the runway and the airport was renamed Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. The old terminal is now sometimes referred as Old Embakasi Airport and is used by the Kenya Air Force.^[4]

Terminal

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport’s terminal has 3 units that cater for both arrivals and departures. Units 1 and 2 are mainly used for international flights whereas unit 3 is mainly used for domestic flights.

Departing passengers check-in through units 1 and 2 depending on their destinations. Both units have airline check-in counters that operate on a Common Use Terminal Equipment (CUTE) system, and immigration desks at the ground floor where passengers are cleared before they proceed to the departure lounge in the first floor via escalators or lifts. There are eight departure gates used to board aircraft via boarding bridges. Arriving international passengers enter via the same gates into a concourse which leads to immigration counters at the first floor before coming to the baggage hall situated in the ground floor. The baggage hall is well served with baggage conveyor belts.

Banking facilities, taxis, car hire, tour operators and hotel booking offices are conveniently situated at the arrival areas. A scheduled bus service to and from the town center is available at unit 1 and 2 bus stops.

Simba restaurant is situated in the 5th floor of the main central building. There is a cafeteria operated by Home Park in unit 1, a restaurant and pub in unit 2, a cafeteria and snack bar in unit 3 and an international arrival hall – all operated by NAS. Beverage and soft drink vending machines are strategically placed in each unit.

Information desks manned by customer care officers, are strategically placed in all the units and at the arrival hall. Flight information display systems (FIDS) and signage helps the passenger find his/her way around the airport.

Future expansion

On the 14th October 2005, the Kenya Airports Authority announced their plans to expand Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Over the next two years, the authority announced that it would improve airport facilities across Kenya, especially at Nairobi.

The expansion project was prompted as Jomo Kenyatta airport's annual passenger flow topped 4 million, while the airport was only constructed to handle 2.5 million passengers.

The expansion of the airport will more than double its size, from 25,662 to 55,222 square metres (276,220 to 594,400 sq ft). Aircraft parking, which is currently constrained, will be increased from 200,000 to 300,000 square metres (2,200,000 to 3,200,000 sq ft), and additional taxiways will be built. The arrivals and departures section will be fully separated, and the waiting area will be revamped.

The expansion will increase the airport's capacity to 9 million passengers a year. The project will cost the Kenya Airports Authority $100 million. The World Bank will provide $10 million. The first phase of upgrading commenced on September 29, 2006.

The Kenya government is currently debating on a proposal to build a second parallel runway at the Airport. This debate was caused by an incident which closed the only operational runway for 1 day.

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
African Express Airways	Berbera, Entebbe, Galkaayo, Jeddah, Juba, Hargeisa, Mayotte, Mogadishu, Mombasa, Wajir
Air Arabia	Sharjah
Air Madagascar	Antananarivo
Air Mauritius	Mauritius
Air Uganda	Entebbe
British Airways	London-Heathrow
Brussels Airlines	Brussels
Condor	Frankfurt ^[5]
Daallo Airlines	Djibouti, Hargeisa, Mogadishu
East African Safari Air	Juba, Kisumu, Lokichogio
EgyptAir	Cairo
Emirates	Dubai
Eritrean Airlines	Asmara
Ethiopian Airlines	Addis Ababa
Etihad Airways	Abu Dhabi [begins 1 April 2012]
Fly540	Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret, Kitale, Lodwar, Lamu, Malindi, The Mara, Mwanza, Kilimanjaro, Entebbe, Zanzibar
Gulf Air	Bahrain
JetLink Express	Eldoret, Goma, Juba, Kisumu, Mombasa, Mwanza
Jubba Airways	Berbera, Djibouti, Mogadishu
Kenya Airways	Abidjan, Abuja, Accra, Addis Ababa, Amsterdam, Antananarivo, Bamako, Bangui, Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Beirut [coming soon] ^[6], Bujumbura, Cairo, Cotonou, Dakar, Dar es Salaam, Dhaka [coming soon] ^[7], Djibouti, Douala, Dubai, Entebbe, Freetown, Gaborone, Guangzhou, Harare, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Johannesburg, Juba, Khartoum, Kigali, Kinshasa, Kisangani, Kisumu, Kuwait, Lamu, Lagos, Libreville, Lilongwe, London-Heathrow, Luanda, Lubumbashi, Lusaka, Mahé, Malindi, Maputo, Mayotte, Mombasa, Monrovia, Moroni, Mumbai, Muscat, N'Djamena, Ndola, Ouagadougou, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Port-Louis, Rome-Fiumicino, Sydney [coming soon] ^[8], Tripoli, [coming soon] ^[9], Tunis [coming soon] ^[10], Yaoundé, Zanzibar
KLM	Amsterdam
LAM Mozambique Airlines	Maputo, Pemba
Nasair	Asmara, Khartoum
Precision Air	Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro, Mwanza, Zanzibar
Qatar Airways	Doha
Royal Jordanian	Amman-Queen Alia
RwandAir	Kigali
Saudi Arabian Airlines	Jeddah
South African Airways	Johannesburg
Swiss International Air Lines	Zürich
TAAG Angola Airlines	Luanda [coming soon] ^[11]
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul-Atatürk
Virgin Atlantic Airways	London-Heathrow
Yemenia	Sanaa

Charter airlines

Airlines	Destinations
Iberworld	Madrid
Monarch Airlines

Cargo airlines

Airlines	Destinations
Air Cargo Germany	Frankfurt-Hahn
Air France Cargo	Paris-Charles de Gaulle
British Airways World Cargo	Johannesburg, London-Stansted, Zaragoza
Cargolux	Luxembourg, Maastricht
Emirates SkyCargo	Dubai
Etihad Crystal Cargo	Abu Dhabi
Evergreen International Airlines
Lufthansa Cargo	Frankfurt
Martinair Cargo	Khartoum,Amsterdam
Saudi Arabian Airlines Cargo	Amsterdam, Jeddah^[12]
Simba Air Cargo
Singapore Airlines Cargo	Brussels, Johannesburg, Singapore
Turkish Airlines Cargo	Istanbul-Ataturk

Other facilities

The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority has its head office in the KAA Complex on the airport property.^[13]^[14] African Express Airways has its head office on the airport property.^[15] In addition the Kenya Airports Authority also has its head office at JKIA.^[16]

Accidents and incidents

On November 20, 1974, Lufthansa Flight 540, a Lufthansa Boeing 747-130, D-ABYB, LH 540, "Hessen" (German state), delivered 1970, crashed on take off from runway 24 in Nairobi killing 59 of the 157 on board. The aircraft was on a flight from Frankfurt to Nairobi and onwards to Johannesburg.
In May 1989 a Boeing 707-330B plane operated by Somali Airlines overran the runway and crashed into a field near the Airport. The plane had 70 on board, but no fatalities resulted.
On December 4, 1990, a Boeing 707-321C operated by Sudania Air Cargo crashed near the airport while landing. All 10 persons on board died.
On November 23, 1996, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961, on an Addis Ababa-Nairobi leg, was hijacked. It eventually crashed in the Indian Ocean, leading to the deaths of 122 of 172 passengers and crew.
On January 30, 2000, Kenya Airways Flight 431 was originally intended to fly from Abidjan to Lagos and on to Nairobi. The aircraft hit the water after takeoff to Lagos.
On May 5, 2007, Kenya Airways Flight 507, en route from Douala, Cameroon was reported to be missing with 115 passengers and crew on board. There were no survivors when the plane was found near Douala, Cameroon.