Kenya eyes higher rating after airports’ upgrade

Passengers stranded at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) over delay of flights. [Boniface Okendo/Standard]

Kenya is lobbying players in the African aviation industry to have the rating of its air travel sector upgraded.

This, Transport and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said yesterday, is aimed at giving the country more clout in the rapidly expanding African aviation sector, where players such as Ethiopia, South Africa and Mauritius have made huge leaps.

Mr Macharia said Kenya continued to invest heavily in air travel infrastructure and targeted to get a rating upgrade by December from the African chapter of the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO).

“I believe Kenya has invested heavily in infrastructure in order to meet the Aviation System Block Upgrade (ASBU) requirements of moving from Block 0 to Block 1 by December 2018,” said the CS.

Best in Africa

Macharia spoke at the Africa CANSO 2018 Conference in Mombasa. The country has in recent years invested heavily in upgrading its key airports, including the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport that was ranked best airport in Africa and 38th globally in the recent worldwide rankings 2018 done by Airhelp.

The conference aims at boosting collaborative efforts to improve the safety standards of Air Traffic Management operations in the continent under the theme: “Improving Efficiency through Collaborative Decision Making and Air Traffic Flow Management.” Kenya Civil Aviation Authority Director General Gilbert Kibe told participants at the forum that African countries should collaborate more in making common decisions that affect the industry to enhance air traffic management efficiency.

“Aviation is a rapidly changing industry with new technologies,” he said.