Maureen Ongwae
3 May 2008
Nairobi — Kisumu Airport is in need of urgent expansion because the facility can no longer handle the large number of growing passengers using it. The good fortunes have been occasioned by the opening up of the western Kenya tourism circuit meaning that visitors now land directly at the facility before proceeding by road.
According to the airport manager, Mr Joseph Okumu, apart from an increase in scheduled flights landing at the airport, charter flights that take tourists to various tourism attraction sites in the region operate from there.
"Currently, we have two charter planes that operate from the facility to Mwanza, Maasai Mara, Kakamega National reserve, Ruma National park, Rusinga and Mfangano Islands in Lake Victoria on daily basis," he said. Apart from the boost from the tourism sector, demand for air transport in the region has been on the increase due to the poor road network from Nairobi to western Kenya.
This has consequently, led to an increase in the number of airlines plying the Nairobi-Kisumu route to eight from two three years ago. And with it, the airport's revenue has also increased. Kenya Airways and East African were the first airlines to launch flights on the route.
Other airlines that now operate on the route include Jet Link, Aero Kenya, Executive Turbine, Fly 540, Imatogo Airlines and Lakevik Aviation. The annual number of passengers has also increased from 70,000 in 2005 to 240,000 in 2007.
Apart from the terminal, which is said to be unable to cope with an increased number of passengers, the suitability of the runaway to accommodate bigger planes has also been queried.
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