The Airports Council International (ACI) has named JKIA one of the five best airport in Africa. During the prestigious 2014 Airports Council International (ACI) Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Awards, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport emerged fifth in the Best Airport by Region – Africa Category in what is considered as the aviation industry’s most comprehensive passenger service-benchmarking programme.
The ACI ASQ Survey has captured passenger experience at all airport passenger contact points at more than 300 airports worldwide. ACI ASQ has industry recognition as a world-class benchmarking programme that aims to allow airports to plan improvements and benchmark customer service.
The recognition comes months after the opening of the airport’s new Terminal 1A. The terminal, which has three floors and includes duty-free shops, a food court, customer lounges, a mini market among other facilities, has a capacity to handle one-way peak hour traffic of 1,500 passengers.
Terminal 1A has improved the customer experience at JKIA, besides guaranteeing operational efficiency, boosting security and improved quality of service to airport users, Kenya Airports Authority Managing Director Lucy Mbugua noted that the recognition was timely, coming at a time when JKIA is undergoing major upgrading and modernisation.
“The stature of JKIA has grown significantly in recent years with the increased passengers and cargo traffic into and out of the facility. We expect even further growth going forward as more capacity is unlocked by on-going works, which will improve the level of service, security and controlled access to meet international standards, thus taking advantage of the strategic location of JKIA to position it as the premier aviation hub of Africa,” Ms Mbugua added.
On-going works at JKIA include the construction of Terminal 2, expected to be opened at the end of this month. The new prefab terminal has a capacity to handle 2.5 million passengers annually and will cater for both international and domestic departures and arrivals.
The additional volume injected by the new terminal brings the airport’s capacity to 7.5 million passengers annually. JKIA currently handles an estimated 6.5 million passengers annually.
