Jomo Kenyatta Airport
| Jomo Kenyatta International Airport |
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Joint (Civil and Military) | ||||||||||
| Operator | Kenya Airports Authority | ||||||||||
| Serves | Nairobi Metropolitan Region | ||||||||||
| Location | Embakasi, Nairobi, Kenya | ||||||||||
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| Elevation AMSL | 1,624 m / 5,327 ft | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 01°19′07″S 36°55′33″E / 1.31861°S 36.92583°ECoordinates: 01°19′07″S 36°55′33″E / 1.31861°S 36.92583°E | ||||||||||
| Website | kaa.go.ke | ||||||||||
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 NBO
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Latitude and longitude provided by Kenya Airports Authority
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| Passengers | 7,039,175 |
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| Aircraft Movements | 322,504 |
| Economic Impact | 1.1% of GDP ($781 Million / KES 7.8 Billion) |
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (IATA: NBO, ICAO: HKJK) is an international airport in Nairobi, the capital of and largest city in Kenya. Located in the Embakasi suburb 15 kilometres (9 mi) southeast of Nairobi's central business district, the airport has scheduled flights to destinations in over 50 countries. The airport is named after Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's first president and prime minister. The airport served over 7 million passengers in 2016, making it the seventh busiest airport in passenger traffic on the continent.
Plans for the airport were drawn up in 1953, work started in January 1954, and by mid-1957 it was found possible to bring the operational date forward to mid-March 1958. The task was by no means straightforward, and many problems —largely of a civil engineering nature—had to be overcome before the runway could be built. The site chosen, on a great lava plain, is a pilot's and a controller's dream: eleven miles from the centre of Nairobi (the city's two other airports, Eastleigh and Nairobi West, are closer), its approaches are free from any obstruction for at least 17 miles in any direction. The nearest mountain ("high ground" would be a misnomer when Embakasi itself is 5,327 ft AMSL) is 25 miles away, and 10 deg off the runway centre-line. Visibility rarely falls below this obstruction-distance in the clear air of the plains, and it may have been possible to see the summit of Mount Meru in Northern Tanganyika, about 140 miles away; both Kilimanjaro (115 n.m. away) and Mount Kenya could be clearly seen.
On Sunday 9 March 1958, Embakasi Airport (now JKIA) was opened by the last colonial governor of Kenya, Sir Evelyn Baring. The airport was due to be opened by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother; however, she was delayed in Australia due to an engine failure on her Qantas Lockheed Super Constellation aircraft. Due to this, the Queen was unable to attend the ceremony.
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Wikipedia