Construction of second JKIA runway in the offing

At the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), the folly of a single runway hardly ever captures the attention of many a passenger.

But that was before a light aircraft crash-landed on Sunday, paralysing the facility.

The incident is set to refocus the government’s attention on its long-held ambition of constructing an alternative landing path at the country’s top airport.

The Business Daily has learnt that consultancy on the second runway at the JKIA has been completed and is currently being reviewed by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

A senior official at the Ministry of Transport said the bank is studying the report before committing funds for construction of the runway to ease delays such as the one witnessed at the facility on Sunday.

“The consultancy report is out and it is currently being reviewed by AfDB, who founded the exercise,” said the official.

A number of airlines and passengers are still bearing the brunt of the Sunday closure of the runway. They were grounded at the facility for several hours after a Somali-based aircraft made an emergency landing at the airport.

Aeroplanes that were due to land at the airport were diverted to Moi International Airport in Mombasa, while those that were to take off were delayed.

Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) said it was assessing the incident in order to draw lessons on how to improve airport emergency, response and recovery procedures to minimise inconveniences should such incidents occur in future.

In a statement on Monday, KAA said normalcy had been restored at the airport following the delays.

“Kenya Airports Authority would like to inform the general public that flight operations at JKIA have normalised following Sunday evening airport runway closure,” said corporate communication manager Angela Tilitei.

KAA scrapped plans for a new terminal building at JKIA, whose construction President Uhuru Kenyatta launched in December 2013, due to shortage of funds.

The government has opted for the construction of the second runway instead, noting that the current one has been overwhelmed.

The Transport ministry says design work for the runway will be completed by February, paving the way for construction. According to the ministry, construction will begin as soon as the country secures funds from AfDB.

Last year, KAA partially closed the JKIA runway for rehabilitation as part of the ongoing expansion and modernisation work at the facility.

The landing strip was closed daily during off-peak hours — between midnight and 6am from April 2015 to April 2016, for the repairs.

The runway is 4,117 meters long and 45 meters wide with 15 meters of paved shoulders, making it a code E runway that can handle wide body aircraft, including the Boeing B747.

JKIA was built in the 1970s to handle 2.5 million passengers annually but is struggling to handle more than six million today as its regional importance grows.

The airport has been expanding terminals 1E and 1A with KAA saying the facilities have capacity to handle 2.5 million passengers annually.

Last week, inspectors from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) finalised their assessment of JKIA as Kenya seeks clearance to commence direct flights to the US.

The audit will determine whether JKIA finally gets Category One status which will clear airlines from the facility to fly straight to the US.

The two previous bids failed, setting off a chain of security and safety reforms at the airport. The government expects direct flights to start in the first quarter of 2017.

Parliament has so far passed the Civil Aviation Amendment Act, 2016, a legal framework which was endorsed by President Uhuru Kenyatta in September.

“We have met all the conditions and this is the reason why the FAA officials are in the country to finalise their inspection on compliance,” Transport CS James Macharia said in an earlier interview.