•Facility established 25 years ago has some of the best and most modern facilities but KAA talks of high potential unrealised.
•The airport is classified under Category A just like JKIA and Moi Airport in Mombasa.
Image: File
The Eldoret International Airport is still limping in business, handling about 400,000 passengers and zero cargo exported annually.
The facility established 25 years ago has some of the best and most modern facilities but Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) officials have painted a picture of a facility largely underutilied although with high potential of growth.
The airport is classified under Category A just like JKIA and Moi Airport in Mombasa. It has a runaway of 3.5 kilometers in length and 45 meters wide, which are classified under Category 4D but require extension to handle larger aircraft.
Airport manager Walter Agong says the runaway should be extended by 500 meters to make four kilometers that can handle Category E aircrafts.
He spoke when the KAA team made a presentation at the ongoing public participation meetings on the planned elevation of Eldoret town to a city.
The ad hoc committee on the elevation of Eldoret is chaired by branch chairman of the chamber of commerce in Uasin Gishu Willy Kenei who was present along with the town manager Tito Koiyet.
Currently it handled about 2,970 aircraft movements per year.
“In terms of facilities. we have the best and can handle any kind of airport services required internationally,”Agong said. It employees 1,670 employees minus those working for private firms
The facility also has a terminal building that can accommodate 200 passengers during peak hours.
The passenger flights include Jambo Jet which lands five times daily, Skyward which manages four landings daily Flight 540, which does three landings per day.
Agong says the airport records seven cargo flights per day from Dubai and the Middle East. The airport brings in 12 million kg of cargo annually.
“In terms of cargo we only handle imports and record zero exports,”Agong said.
In a region that is rich in terms of agricultural production including fresh produce, all the cargo aircraft landing at the facility leave empty to pick cargo in Nairobi on the way back.
Agong said after the Covid-19 pandemic the airport has shown improvement in performance and averages 860 passengers per day.
In the cargo section, the facility employees about 200 workers at the private firms in the section but Agong says it has the capacity to employee more than 500 if exports will commence.
“We have to act as stakeholders so we sensitize our farmers to engage in fresh produce and export through the airport,” Agong said.
He says they are willing to work with the counties through the North Rift Economic Bloc (Noreb)and other stakeholders to ensure that farmers have adequate fresh produce to uplift through the airport.
The airport is more than 2,000 acres of land which KAA plans to start developing into a city with the planned city of Eldoret. KAA plans to enter into public-private partnerships to start developing modern facilities on the land.
The plan is to start developing business centers including hotels and malls that will make the airport fully self contained.
In one month,the airport planning committee will visit the facility to advise on proper land use at the facility.
Within five years KAA projects to have put the land available under use for various related development projects.
“We can turn the airport into a transit cargo center for the region and also have direct passenger flights to Europe and other destinations if we plan well and market it internationally to attract all kinds of airlines,”Agong said.
One challenge the airport faces is lack of jet fuel at the facility or within Eldoret.
Agong says it’s surprising that all aircraft using the facility have to carry their own fuel for the return journeys. That means for cargo flights the, fuel they carry causes reduction of the amount of cargo they can ferry in order to balance weight.
KAA has been unsuccessfully advertising to get a supplier of jet fuel at the airport.
Agong said they fully support the plan to elevate Eldoret to a city but noted that the available road network in the town must be improved to required standards.
He also cautioned land buyers in the town to be aware of requirements on development controls around the airport.
(Edited by V. Graham)