What Iran war has revealed about JKIA and Kenya Airways

Kenya Airways aircraft. [File Courtesy]

The latest convulsions in the Middle East have cast an unexpected spotlight on Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), underscoring its quiet but consequential role in global aviation. Long regarded as a regional hub, the airport has, in recent days, functioned as a vital artery in the circulation of international passengers and cargo.

As swathes of Gulf airspace were abruptly closed, airlines were forced into rapid recalibration. Routes that once traversed the Arabian Peninsula were diverted southward, elevating Nairobi from a waypoint of convenience to one of necessity. In the early phase of the crisis, JKIA became a sanctuary of sorts; an emergency stopover for refuelling and, at times, for parking aircraft displaced by geopolitical upheaval.

With skies over Qatar and the United Arab Emirates effectively sealed following retaliatory strikes and the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, major carriers, including Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad Airways, found themselves rerouting through Nairobi. According to Cirium, more than 3,400 flights were cancelled in a single day, prompting several operators to adopt Nairobi, Addis, India, and South Africa as improvised, if temporary, alternative hubs.

In a world still reeling from the impact of the crisis, national carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) has stepped in to help save the day. Passengers who would ordinarily transit through Middle Eastern hubs en route to and from Europe have been rerouted via Nairobi, lifting the carrier’s traffic by nearly a third. In turn, JKIA has assumed heightened importance as a transit hub, recording increased flows from Europe, Asia and the United States.

The airline has also demonstrated operational agility. Following the grant of landing slots at the Dubai International Airport, it mounted a series of special repatriation services between Nairobi and Dubai. These are not part of its scheduled operations, but targeted interventions designed to return stranded citizens and residents in the wake of the disruption.

Several lessons emerge from the foregoing. Chief among them is that JKIA and the national carrier KQ are effectively conjoined twins. Their relationship is symbiotic: The airline alone accounts for more than 65 per cent of the airport’s traffic. It follows that any serious effort to develop one must, of necessity, encompass the other.

Second, JKIA enjoys a formidable geographical advantage. From this vantage point, virtually the entirety of Africa lies within a five-hour radius. Such proximity renders it an ideal hub for KQ, whose network of routes extends like spokes to many of the continent’s principal cities, while also linking to destinations in Europe, Asia and North America. In this regard, the airport–airline pairing presents a credible alternative to the long-dominant Middle Eastern transit hubs that have historically channelled much of Africa’s international air traffic.

Third, Kenya enjoys a benign climate that is favourable to aviation for most of the year. Unlike several jurisdictions on the continent, it is spared the persistent fog that can impair visibility during take-off and landing. Nor are its airports routinely subject to the kind of severe headwinds that complicate approaches. The dust storms that afflict parts of the Middle East are likewise absent, obviating the maintenance burdens associated with the accumulation of grit in aircraft engines. When disruptions do occur, they tend to arise from other causes. Nature, in this respect, is seldom to blame.

Last, KQ has, over time, assembled a fleet with deliberate care, endowing it with the range to serve both Europe and North America without sacrificing payload. This contrasts with several African peers that, when forced to reroute around restricted airspace, mostly over Sudan and the Red Sea, must resort to costly refuelling stops. By comparison, KQ’s fleet remains closely aligned to its network and has recently posted notably strong load factors in the wake of Middle East conflict-linked disruptions.

The impact of the war has far-reaching implications for airlines worldwide and could affect demand as fuel prices fluctuate across various sectors. Yet even as Middle Eastern carriers eventually restore full operations, both JKIA and KQ appear to have consolidated their standing. They have demonstrated a capacity to compete credibly and now constitute a meaningful presence in both global passenger and cargo markets.

Captain Njoroge is the Director Operations, Kenya Airways