It’s been this simple. If you are flying through Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), you can use your car to the airport, park it there and return to pay the parking fees for the period and drive away.
But that luxury is no more.
Kenya’s busiest international airport will stop providing long-term parking from Monday No. 10th to accommodate ongoing construction. Passengers and visitors to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) have been advised to either use taxi services or get a ride to the airport to avoid the inconvenience of limited short-term parking facilities.
A Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) announcement on Friday advises that Parking Bay 5, up to now a Sh700-a-day (about $8) long term facility that can hold 158 cars, will provide short term parking only. This follows plans to partially close Parking Bay 8, one of JKIA’s six commercial bays, from November 10 to allow for ongoing construction of Terminal 1E (new International Arrivals terminal).
The lot, which can hold 135 vehicles, was built in 2011 to ease congestion at the airport, which serves an average of 19,000 passengers each day. An adjacent 62-bay lot used by airport staff will also be closed. A shuttle service, charging a “minimal fee”, will be provided for them, airport officials say.
Part of Parking Bay 8 will remain open for “persons with reduced mobility and Airport Operators Committee officials”. JKIA, which has a little over 1,000 parking bays open to the public, has been reorganising its operations due to expansion works that begun several years ago, as well as reconstruction following a fire in August last year that destroyed the international terminal.
A new arrivals and departure terminal, 1A, was opened earlier this year. The construction of Terminal 1E has been funded by the World Bank and is scheduled to be completed in March 2015. It will replace the current international arrivals terminal situated at the parking garage. The shortage of parking bays often leads to congestion at peak operating periods.
