The Moi International Airport Mombasa will be upgraded at a cost of Sh7 billion ($70 million), Transport CS James Macharia said yesterday.
Speaking during the groundbreaking ceremony of the rehabilitation of the airside pavements and airfield ground lighting system at the airport, Macharia said the project is expected to take 24 months.
Macharia said the last time the airport was rehabilitated was in 1994. This was by Pacific Consultants International PCI, a Japanese company.
"This is the main airport serving the Coast region, and accounts for over 80 per cent of all international tourists coming to Kenya. However, it does not operate at its maximum capacity. Therefore, we need to see how best we can improve it," Macharia said.
Tourism CS Najib Balala, who accompanied Macharia said the airport has capacity to handle over two million passengers annually but it only gets at 300,000 passengers per year.
He said the government, the private sector and other players in the aviation industry should support the airport to ensure more planes land in Mombasa.
"We have 15 charter flights coming to Mombasa every week, up from nine last year. But Moi Airport cannot rely on charter business alone. We need more international scheduled airlines,"
Balala said.
Balala challenged Kenya Airways to start direct flights from Mombasa to London. Qatar Airways is expected to start direct flights to Mombasa on December 9.
Currently, Ethiopia Airline, Rwanda Air and Turkish Airline are the only ones operating to Mombasa.
Kenya Airport Authority CEO Johny Andersen said preparations for the rehabilitation of the runway and associated works started in 2014.
"This included the study on the state of the runway, business case, source of funding and finally scope of works. Last year, we completed the process and were able to secure $65milion, which is 93 per cent of the funding from AFD [Agence Française de Dévelopment]. Kenya Airports Authority will cover the balance,"
Andersen said.
The World Bank will also fund the consultants at the cost of $900,000 (Sh90 million).
Others who attended the ceremony were French Ambassador to Kenya Aline Kuster-Menager, Mombasa deputy governor William Kingi and Changamwe MP Omar Mwinyi.