With the Adani proposal to expand and develop Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) off the table, Kenya Airports Authority is back to the drawing board. A new development partner must be sought with some measure of urgency if Kenya hopes to continue with its regional air-travel ascendancy. But rather than focus on the development of Kenya’s premier airport per se, the entire aviation ecosystem around it should be overhauled to enable seamless operations.
Aviation in Kenya should be considered holistically. Players, conductors and assets must be seen as an ensemble that performs below par if any of them is off kilter. Investment in the entire ecosystem then becomes a prerequisite for great performance. Key stakeholders include the airport itself, the regulator Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) and the national carrier Kenya Airways. There is also an interplay of policy that connects these stakeholders. Here are some considerations.
KCAA needs to be adequately resourced. This is because aviation training institutions, which are within the remit of the regulator, need to be updated for changing trends and globally accepted competencies. The Ministry of Transport, another stakeholder, needs a budgetary provision to not only recruit competent personnel competitively but also purchase aircraft for emergency operations. The International Civil Aviation Organisation has previously written to the government of Kenya decrying shortage of air accident investigations laboratories or qualified engineers to conduct the complex probes related to air incidents.
The national carrier, Kenya Airways (KQ), is JKIA’s anchor tenant. The most ideal situation is to grow it in tandem with the airport because without a strong legacy carrier, grand plans to expand the airport become moot. KQ has recently put its house in order by imbuing a high level of operational excellence within its network. This has resulted in a net profit of Sh513 million for the half-year to June. However, it still needs to be supported further financially to retire a legacy debt that has hampered even better performance and to recapitalise for the acquisition of equipment to augment its fleet.
It is instructive to note that the airline industry operates rather thin profit margins which are susceptible to demand shocks. Consequently, many countries maintain legacy carriers, not so much for returns to shareholders, but for their strategic value seen beyond the balance sheet. One of KQ’s competitors up North is funded directly by the exchequer with provision made as a line item in the country’s national budget. All middle-eastern carriers are similarly subsidised by their governments for ease of operations. KQ should not be an exception.
There are also policy issues that can only be best addressed by involving KQ in the design of the new terminal building. For instance, unlike numerous other international airports, KQ’s priority passengers are forced to queue through immigration lines at JKIA. Standard practice is to have special security and immigration channels for premium passengers. This is so that the customer experience is enhanced from the moment such passengers enter the airport to the point of their departure. Other policy changes could include automated departure and arrival procedures for Kenyan passport holders to preclude long queues at immigration counters.
Mr Khafafa is a public policy analyst