Kenya’s Airport Ranked 2nd Fastest-Growing In The World

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is the second-fastest in the world in air cargo, the World Airport Traffic Report released by Airports Council International has revealed.

According to the report, JKIA traffic grew by 25.6 percent, after handling over 250,000 metric tons of air cargo in 2018

In 2018, the airport handled over 342,000 metric tonnes of air cargo, a 25% growth from what was reflected in 2017.

The report highlights top airports for passengers, cargo and aircraft movements and showcases the world’s fastest-growing airports for 2018.

The Kenyan airport came in second after Rockford, an air cargo hub in the United States that handled more than 250,000 metric tonnes of air cargo.

Rockford was ranked the fastest growing airport in 2018 as the e-commerce freight hub for online retail giant Amazon.

In a statement, Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) attributed the rapid growth to a substantial increase in air cargo traffic to and from Europe, Asia, America as well as recent additions China and Australia.

KAA highlighted that its improvement in global arena was due to the transformation in the air cargo management and also active involvement of public and private sectors.

“The construction of several modern transits sheds at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport has seen the airport’s overall cargo grow to 1.2million tons annually.

“This is an exciting time for Kenya, the face of cargo is changing, and we are positioning JKIA as the premier cargo distribution center for online commerce companies in the region,” KAA CEO Jonny Anderson added.

Hong Kong International Airport, Memphis International Airport, Shanghai Pudong International Airport, Incheon International Airport and Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport lead in total cargo volumes respectively.

Featured Image Courtesy: KAA.go.ke