New JKIA Parking System Introduces Fee Payment by Mobile Money

A new parking management system at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) will now see motorists pay their parking fees through mobile money, and more specifically, through M-Pesa.

The new system which was operationalized by the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) was implemented and kick-started as of Monday, 24th January 2020.

According to KAA, the new parking management system will be managed by KAPS Limited with the main objective of improving the passenger experience at the airport.

The new system comes ahead of the planned modernization of JKIA’s terminals T1B, C and D, aimed at increasing the airport’s annual passenger handling capacity to over 10 million passengers.

In addition to the use of mobile money to pay for parking fees, KAA has introduced a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip system that scans vehicle details to allow swift passage through the airport.

JKIA is currently the busiest and fastest-growing airport hub in East and Central Africa. It currently handles an average of 8 million passengers annually, with an estimated annual traffic growth rate of 12 percent. Over 20,000 passengers are dropped and picked at JKIA daily, with over 14,000 vehicular movements.

According to Alex Gitari, the Acting Managing Director, KAA, the new parking management system will introduce an efficient, stress-free access, parking and exit experience for motorists visiting the airport.

The new parking management system will also help motorists find parking spaces within the airport by displaying available parking spaces at the different airport parking zones on entry.

“We have also eliminated pay points at exit points to ensure smooth exit by motorists from the airport,” Alex Gitari added.

To pay using M-Pesa, KAA says that motorists will use the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) code *486*12.

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