JKIA Ranked World’s 2nd Fastest-Growing Cargo Airport

Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) has been rated among the world’s fastest-growing cargo airports.

JKIA has been ranked position two in the category of world airports that handle more than 250,000 metric tons of air cargo.

The Airports Council International (ACI) latest World Airport Traffic Report, which highlights top aerodromes for passengers, cargo and aircraft movements, indicates that JKIA handled over 342,000 metric tons of air cargo in 2018, a 25 percent growth from what was recorded in 2017.

In the past few years, JKIA has experienced a significant increase in air cargo traffic to and from Europe, Asia, US, China as well as Australia.

“This award validates our ongoing efforts in improving facilities at the JKIA Cargo area. I would like to congratulate all our stakeholders for their collective and ongoing efforts in making this possible.” Said Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) CEO Jonny Anderson. 

“This is an exciting time for Kenya, the face of cargo is changing, and we are positioning JKIA as the premier cargo distribution center for online commerce companies in the region,” he added.

Rockford International Airport, an expansive air cargo hub in the United States, was named the fastest-growing cargo airport globally in 2018. The Illinois-based airport acts as an e-commerce freight hub for online retail giant Amazon.

China’s Hong Kong International Airport, Memphis International Airport (US), Shanghai Pudong International Airport (China), Incheon International Airport (South Korea) and Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (US) were the top five airports in terms of total cargo volumes.

In total, world’s airports handled 8.8 billion passengers, 122.7 million metric tons of cargo, and 99.9 million aircraft movements in the period under review.

JKIA, the largest airport in the East African region, currently handles about 6.5 million passengers a year.