The number of passengers at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) increased by 16.7 percent during the month of August ahead of the inaugural direct flight to the United States of America.
According to stats released by the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), the number of passengers stood at 787,743 in August.
The number recorded in August this year was 16.7 percent more from the 674,882 passengers recorded at the same time in 2017.
JKIA is said to have recorded 1.54 million passenger movements in 2018/2019. This was an increase of 11.2 percent from 1.38 million recorded during the 2017/2018 period.
The number of cargo movement dipped by 12.8 percent from 57.87 million kilograms to 40.43 million kilograms during the period.
The movements of aircrafts, according to the report, increased by 8.6 percent 10 10,056 from 9,258. The volume of cargo handled dropped by 9.4 percent to 26.22 million kilograms from 28.94 million kilograms at the same period.
Moi International Airport was not left behind too. Passenger traffic increased by 43.5 percent to 152,870 from 106,513. During the same period, the movement of cargo increased by 22 percent from 300,826 kilograms in 2017 to 367,137 kilograms in 2018.
Kisumu International Airport registered 43,744 passengers in August 2018 from 26,702 recorded at the same period in 2017, a 63.8 percent increase. Cargo movement at the same airport increased from 648 kilograms to 880 kilograms, a 35.8 percent increase.
KAA says that 90,647 local travelers flew to Mombasa in 2018/2019, 32,509 flew to Kisumu, 14,973 went to Eldoret while 9,878 and 7,874 passengers flew to Malindi and Ukunda respectively.
The top international destination from JKIA was Dubai. A total of 65,378 passengers booked flights to Dubai. This was a drop by 4 percent from 68,083 passengers recorded in 2017/2018 period.
Those who flew from JKIA to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia were 44,002 while those who went to Entebbe, Uganda were 39,460.