The number of visitors arriving at Kenya's main airports declined in September 2024. This is according to the latest Leading Economic Indicator report by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) published on November 15.
The decline occurs against the backdrop of ongoing controversy over airport management, with tensions persisting between the government and the Indian conglomerate Adani Group, a focal point of the dispute.
According to KNBS, the total number of visitors arriving at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport(JKIA) and Moi International Airport(MIA) declined by as much as 30,117 passengers from 175,113 in August to 144,996 in September.
''The total number of visitor arrivals at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and Moi International Airport (MIA) fell from 175,113 in August 2024 to 144,996 in September 2024. MIA recorded a 22.5 per cent drop, decreasing from 19,822 to 15,371, while JKIA reported a 16.5 per cent decline, falling from 155,291 to 129,625 during the same period,'' read part of the data from KNBS.
In March this year, Adani Group Limited submitted a proposal to the government to take over the running and management of the main airport for thirty years.
Three months later, the government approved the proposal which included the necessary aviation policies, granting the Indian company a go-ahead in the JKIA takeover.
In the proposal, Adani pledged to spend Ksh238 billion to expand and upgrade the JKIA airport for thirty years. The deal, however, sparked widespread outrage from Kenyans and aviation workers who staged protests.
Several court cases were filed at the High Court on the Adani takeover, with the Law Society of Kenya(LSK) and the Kenya National Human Rights Commission(KNHCR) moving to court on September 8 to challenge the agreement to lease JKIA to the Indian conglomerate.
In their suit, the lobby groups urged to court to stop the Public-Private Partnership deal until the petition was heard and determined.
High Court judge John Chigi referred the case to CJ Koome for her to empanel a bench to hear and determine the case on October 25. According to Justice Chigiti, the case raised weighty constitutional issues and thus was not fit to be heard by a single judge.
The decline in numbers will be a major headache to the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) management as prior data from the KNBS for May and June showed a significant increase in the numbers.
The data on the passenger arrivals excludes computations from the number of Kenyans who arrived from other destinations across the world at the 2 major airports.
Kenya has other key major airports including the Eldoret and Kisumu International Airports, even though it is only the JKIA and MIA that serve as direct international arrivals.
This means that passengers arriving from overseas who would like to travel to other airports, such as Kisumu, must first be checked in at the two major facilities before proceeding.
