Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) is the gateway to East and Central Africa and the busiest airport in East Africa. Jomo Kenyatta Airport is located in Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya. There are over 40 passenger airlines and 25 cargo airlines that operate in JKIA. The airport has scheduled flights to destinations in over 50 countries.
JKIA is the flagship airport of The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) followed by Moi International airport Mombasa and Kisumu International Airport.
The Jomo Kenyatta International Airport served over 7 million passengers in 2016. This makes it the seventh busiest airport in passenger traffic in Africa.
JKIA contributes 1.1% of GDP ($781 Million / KES 7.8 Billion) to the Kenyan Economy.
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Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Historical Background
The Jomo Kenyatta International Airport was initially called Embakasi Airport and thereafter named Nairobi International Airport. Later on, the airport was named after Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. The airport plans were drawn up in 1953, work started in January 1954.
Airport site was chosen, on a great lava plain which is a pilot’s and a controller’s dream: eleven miles from the centre of Nairobi.
The airport was due to be opened by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother; however, she was delayed in Australia due to an engine failure on her Qantas Lockheed Super Constellation aircraft. Because of this, the Queen was unable to attend the ceremony in Nairobi. Therefore, Embakasi Airport (now JKIA) was opened by the last colonial governor of Kenya, Sir Evelyn Baring, on Sunday 9 March 1958.
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Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Runway
A new instrument landing system-equipped runway 5,500 metres (18,000 ft) in length was approved for construction In January 2017 at a cost of KES 37 Billion shillings (approximately USD 370 million). This will also double aircraft movement from 25 to 45 per hour.
New JKIA runway will be a category 2 runway and will complement the older runway built in the 1970s. It will be 4.8 kilometres long and 75 metre wide runway compared to the current one which is 60 metres wide and 4.2 kilometres long.
The new runway fitted with fog lights, can handle the new generation wide bodied aircraft like the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 747-8.
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport code
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport code is NBO for IATA and ICAO Code is HKJK
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Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Location
JKIA is Located in the Embakasi suburb 15 kilometres (9 mi) southeast of Nairobi’s CBD. The JKIA Coordinates are 01°19′07″S 36°55′33″E and the Elevation AMSL 1,624 m / 5,327 ft.
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Terminal Map
The Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Arrivals
Get all the updated information about all the JKIA Arrivals from their web portal by clicking here.
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Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Departures
If you want to know when any flight is departing from JKIA you can check on Jomo Kenyatta international airport arrivals by clicking here.
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Jomo Kenyatta International Airport New Terminal
The government of Kenya is targeting over 25 million passengers annually by 2025 on the expansion of JKIA’s terminals. Give the above, remodeling & extending Terminals 1B, 1C & 1D scheduled for 2017, after which JKIA is predicted to be able to handle 12M passengers per year.
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JKIA Airlines and destinations for Passenger flights
There are over 126 locations you can fly from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
| Airlines | Destinations |
| African Express Airways | Berbera, Dubai–International, Galkayo, Hargeisa, Mogadishu, Sharjah |
| Air Arabia | Sharjah |
| Air France | Paris–Charles de Gaulle (resumes 25 March 2018) |
| Air Mauritius | Mauritius |
| Alitalia | Rome–Fiumicino (resumes 28 March 2018) |
| British Airways | London–Heathrow |
| China Southern Airlines | Guangzhou |
| Daallo Airlines | Mogadishu |
| EgyptAir | Cairo |
| Emirates | Dubai–International |
| Ethiopian Airlines | Addis Ababa |
| Etihad Airways | Abu Dhabi |
| Fly540 | Eldoret, Homa Bay, Juba, Kisumu, Lamu, Lodwar, Mombasa, Zanzibar |
| Fly-SAX | Entebbe, Mogadishu, Mombasa, Moroni |
| Jambojet | Eldoret, Kisumu, Mombasa |
| Jubba Airways | Mogadishu |
| Kenya Airways | Abidjan, Accra, Addis Ababa, Amsterdam, Antananarivo, Bamako, Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi, Bangui, Blantyre, Brazzaville, Bujumbura, Cape Town, Dar es Salaam, Djibouti, Douala, Dubai–International, Dzaoudzi, Entebbe, Freetown–Lungi, Guangzhou, Harare, Jeddah, Johannesburg–OR Tambo, Juba, Khartoum, Kigali, Kilimanjaro, Kinshasa–N’djili, Kisumu, Lagos, Lilongwe, Livingstone, London–Heathrow, Luanda, Lubumbashi, Lusaka, Mahé, Malindi, Maputo, Mombasa, Monrovia, Moroni, Mumbai, Nampula, Ndola, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Yaoundé, Victoria Falls, Zanzibar |
| KLM | Amsterdam |
| LAM Mozambique Airlines | Maputo, Nampula |
| Lufthansa | Frankfurt |
| Malawian Airlines | Lilongwe |
| Oman Air | Muscat |
| Precision Air | Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar |
| Qatar Airways | Doha |
| RwandAir | Entebbe, Kigali |
| Royal Air Maroc | Casablanca |
| Saudia | Jeddah |
| South African Airways | Johannesburg–OR Tambo |
| Swiss International Air Lines | Zürich |
| Turkish Airlines | Istanbul–Atatürk |
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Jobs
All vacancies and JKIA jobs are available on a regular basis whenever there is an opportunity. Always check on their website or online job portals and local dailies for job openings at JKIA.
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Jomo Kenyatta International Airport contacts
Here are the contacts of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
P.O Box 19001 (00501) Nairobi Kenya
Tell: +254-020-6822111/6611000/6612000
Mobile: +254 722 205 061/2/3/4/5/6/7/8
Email: talk2us@kaa.go.ke
Website: www.kaa.go.ke
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