Wilson's passion lives on decades later

Apart from more runways and a few refurbishments, not much has changed about Wilson Airport, which was named after a prominent woman, writes ALLAN OLINGO

The Wilson Airport was originally called the Nairobi Aerodrome and had just two runways back 1933. The imperial airways ran the airmail service as the main use for the airport and passenger services didn’t start until after the Second World War in 1944. The name was changed to Wilson Airport in 1962 after Florence Kerr Wilson, who founded one of the first airlines in Kenya — Wilson Airways — in 1929.

Nairobi’s first airfield was in Dagoretti, which was grazed on by the Maasai. It had caretakers who would drive away the animals once they heard the sounds of the approaching planes. This was to give the ‘occasional’ planes a chance to land and take off.

The airport’s construction work was conducted by the Public Works Department in 1933 and by the end of that year, two murram runways had been laid out. Runway 07/25 ran parallel to Lang'ata Road and was 1,463 metres long and 24 metres wide. The second runway 14/32 was at a right angle with Lang'ata Road and was 1,558 metres in length and 24 metres wide.

Just before the Second World War, the Nairobi Aerodrome was renamed the Nairobi West Airfield. During the war, the military took over the airfield and in 1942, the Royal Navy commissioned the field as ‘AMS Korongo’ and utilised it as an assembly and repair base for the Royal Air Force planes until 1944 when it was abandoned.

In 1953, the existing passenger terminal at the Nairobi West Airfield was closed as the colonial government constructed a new one, an improvement of the old terminal. It now had a large baggage hall, a comfortable lounge, a bar and a sparkles window to offer a perfect view of the airfield.

In 1958, the colonial government honoured Wilson, a British widow, by renaming the Nairobi West Aerodrome Wilson Airport.

International Air Show

The Ministry of Information through Anthony Laver, then issued a press release to media houses notifying them of the change in the name of this facility.

"This decision was taken by the Government in recognition of Wilson’s outstanding services to East Africa in the field of civil engineering," read the press statement.

The change was effected on March 10, 1958 and in her honour, a plaque was unveiled, which is now hardly noticeable. The real expansion of the airport began in 1962. Afterwards the colonial government gazetted it as a controlled point. It was to accommodate short scheduled flights, international, private and chatter flights.

A major runway was development and commissioned in 1997 and the airport continues to be a busy airline hub for small airlines and light aircraft.

One of the unique features of Wilson Airport is that it hosts the annual Nairobi International Air Show. The show features aircraft formation flying, bombing fly-bys, helicopters and skydiving performances, as well as entertainment on the ground. It has, however ,been quite inconsistent in recent years.