Increased charter flights have boosted passenger numbers at Mombasa’s Moi International Airport ahead of the festive season.
Latest Kenya Airports Authority data shows passenger movement at the airport grew by 24.5 per cent last month to 126,696 air travellers, outpacing Jomo Kenyatta and Eldoret International airports.
Year-on-year passenger movement to the airport grew 21.3 per cent to 518,660 visitors.
The KAA data shows passengers moving to and from Kisumu also registered a significant growth, increasing 57.4 per cent to 40,687 visitors, posting a 44.1 per cent annual growth to 166,296 travellers.
The number of passengers traveling through Eldoret International Airport increased 14.2 per cent to 21,611 visitors with a 14 per cent annual increase to 87,311.
JKIA, with the most passenger footfall, recorded a 13.1 per cent increase last month to 666,431 visitors with a 10.9 per cent annual increase to 2.89 million passengers.
Earlier in the month, Tui Belgium and Netherlands Charter flights landed in Mombasa resuming operations after a five year hiatus.
Lot Polish Charter also made its maiden landing in Mombasa with 252 tourists on board.
More visitors to the coast are also expected with the Doha-based airliner Qatar Airways commencing its maiden direct flights to Mombasa mid-next month,” Qatar ambassador Jabr Al Dosari told the Star.
“We expect direct flights to ease and boost business interactions between these two countries and help the city exploit its potential as a key global tourist destination,’’ he said.
Other airlines operating direct scheduled flights to the coast include Turkish Airlines, RwandaAir and Ethiopian Airlines.
Addis Ababa and Entebbe were Kenya’s key markets during the review period recording a 33 and 25 per cent growth to 37,753 and 39,898 passengers respectively.
During the review period passenger movement from Amsterdam decreased by 5.9 per cent to 33,852 visitors.
The cumulative growth for air passengers across all four airports for the year to October grew 13.27 per cent to 3.67 million passengers.