World Travel Awards has ranked the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) as the best airport in Africa.
In winning the award, JKIA triumphed over notable nominees in its category, including Cape Town Airport (South Africa), Casablanca Mohammed V Airport (Morocco), Julius Nyerere Airport (Tanzania) and Kigali Airport (Rwanda). Others that JKIA triumphed over are King Shaka Airport (South Africa) and Oliver Reginald Tambo Airport (South Africa).
Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) Managing Director Henry Ogoye received the award on behalf of Kenya at the ceremony held at the Diamonds Leisure Beach & Golf Resort in Diani. The official was accompanied by Acting JKIA Airport Manager, Selina Gor among other officials.
Lauding JKIA for the award, KAA has revealed that the award is a reflection of JKIA's commitment to service delivery and a testament that progress was being made in tipping Kenya towards the right direction.
"This win reflects our commitment to delivering exceptional service, enhancing operational efficiency, & continuously improving the passenger experience. We thank all our passengers & partners for their continued support," KAA said in a statement posted on its official social media pages.
"We’re proud of our team’s hard work and dedication that made this achievement possible." KAA continued.
JKIA has been described as East Africa's busiest Airport and the win didn't come as a surprise. Established in 1993, the World Travel Awards seeks to reward across all key sectors of the travel and hospitality industry.
Apart from bagging the accolade for Africa's Leading Airport, Kenya was also crowned as having the continent's Leading Airline 2024, Africa's Leading Airline-Business Class 2024, and Africa's Leading Airline Brand 2024.
Nairobi City scooped Africa's Leading Business Travel Destination in 2024 while Tanzania was crowned as Africa's Leading Destination.
This is not the first time Kenya has won big in the awards. In 2019, Nairobi was named Africa’s Leading Business Travel Destination, while The Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) was awarded Africa’s Leading Meetings & Conference destination at this year’s 26th Annual World Travel Awards (WTA).
The award comes at a time that the JKIA is facing controversy following a proposal by the Kenyan government to lease the airport to Indian Conglomerate Adani Airport Holdings for 30 years during which the foreign company is expected to inject billions for renovations which it will recoup over the lease period.
The proposal faced backlash from Kenyans and the airport staff who were worried for their jobs. This culminated in staff strikes in September 2024, that paralyzed operations not only in JKIA but other airports in the nation in solidarity with their colleagues. By
