STILL HIGH ABOVE THEIR COMPETITION

Kenyan Airport Authority

In the interests of kaizen (change for the better) Kenya Airports Authority continuously invest heavily into its facilities, workforce processes and the local community. Ultimately, the Authority is looking to turn Kenya into a ‘hub’ for Africa and have in many ways succeeded in doing that with Kenya receiving more international attention from global companies and decision makers looking to the region as an important destination for business and tourism.

Based at the largest airport in East and Central Africa, KAA’s offices are found at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi. The airport originally had a

passenger handling capacity of 2.5 million, however, it now easily handles 6.5 million passengers a year which is a substantial increase which has created a ripple effect through their organization and affiliated businesses.

Two other airports that the KAA is also responsible for include Moi international airport in Mombassa and Eldoret International Airport. There are a number of smaller local and domestic airports that the KAA is in charge of such as Wilson, Malindi, Kisumu, Wajir and Lokichoggo and in addition to the airports, Kenya Airports Authority also looks after close to 200 airstrips in the country.

Professionalism and teamwork are two of the Kenya Airport Authority’s core values and the organisation invests significantly in developing its 1,700-strong workforce. “Every employee, at least once a year, gets some serious training with numerous refresher courses,” says Philemon, “Our training programme is comprehensive locally and overseas with particular focus on safety, security and customer service,”

Everybody is given safety awareness training and on the security force is regularly refreshed and retrained so that they can keep themselves at the top of their games, especially with those responsible for the security of passengers boarding and disembarking.

The KAA is also going to train up ‘ERP Champions’ to coincide with the launch of its new management tool. Champions will be selected from each operational area; for example, finance, customer service, human resources, and are then trained in South Africa on using the new software.

Training is not enough, treatment is also of concern and the employees at KAA receive both to a very high degree. Above average pay, medical schemes, a bus service to take staff members to and from work and a car and housing allowance for senior employees are some of the incentives given.

“Those are some of the things that we are doing to ensure that we are top notch, in terms of having a motivated workforce, but also in terms of improving our facilities and our processes,” Philemon specifies.

A great deal of capital is being invested into The KAA airports, being put into terminal refurbishment, expansion and construction of new runways. One of the biggest projects the Authority is presently involved with is the major refurbishment of the JKIA, and its overall cost has been estimated at half a billion US dollars.

Established in 1991 through a parliamentary act and tasked with responsibly managing all the airports and airstrips in the country, The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) started life with a mission to become the number one airport system in Kenya. Seamless connectivity and the highest level of efficient facilities and services place their average well above stakeholder expectations and like this they have grown in leaps and bounds to become a major contender and a model for all their neighbours. I spoke with engineer Philemon Chandwana about it all.

Kenyan Airport Authority

At the moment, the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport consists of three terminals and one runway. A fourth terminal is currently being put together and Philemon hopes this will be completed by the end of the year.

He elaborates, “A second runway will be build because having only one runway is dangerous,” something that Endeavour Magazine has seen in the past working with Norwich International Airport, “The building of a second strip will also give us the chance to refurbish some of the neighbouring facilities.”

Meanwhile, the KAA has just completed full refurbishments of both Kisumu Airport and Malindi Airport.

With such huge investments taking place in the KAA’s processes, airport facilities and workforce, it seems fair to predict that it will be successful in achieving both its mission and vision. Specifically looking at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Kobuthi hopes the addition of a fourth terminal and second runway will help it to more than double its passenger capacity.

“The aim is to be able to handle excess of 20 million passengers a year at JKIA, in the next five years,” he says. “We are also working towards attaining a category one status, which would mean that anybody, including people from the US, can fly to Nairobi directly. Which will be a significant boost to the economy.”

He concludes by saying: “I see Jomo Kenyatta as being the top airport in the whole of Africa within five years.”

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Written by Jack Slater

www.littlegatepublishing.com