Some international flights landed at Nairobi airport on Thursday after a devastating airport fire gutted the main terminal at Kenya’s most important hub for business travelers and tourists.
The airport is also the main aviation hub in the fast-growing region of east Africa, acting as a transit center for travelers across countries from Tanzania to Ethiopia and serving more than 45 airlines.
Michael Kamau, cabinet secretary for transport, said Kenya would reopen its main airport at midnight: “The airport will be open for all other flights as from midnight on Thursday,” he said, noting that so far the airport was only being used for international flights by Kenya Airways, the country’s flagship carrier.
The airport’s domestic terminal, which escaped the blaze, is being prepared for handling international flights, using tents to create extra space. Domestic flights and some cargo flights from the airport, which exports much of Kenya’s homegrown green beans and flowers that form part of its $1bn horticulture industry, resumed on Wednesday evening.
Officials have given no estimate of the cost of repairs or the duration of the international passenger terminal’s closure. An extended shutdown could hit economic growth in Kenya and the wider region. Tourism is one of the three main hard currency earners for Kenya, together with horticulture and tea. The fire has come at a bad time, during high season, as tourists arrive for the wildebeest migration.
According to local reports, the fire started in the early morning at the immigration departure hall and destroyed the international arrivals terminal hall, sending huge plumes of black smoke into the air.
Ellen Vermeulen, a 42-year-old aid worker who arrived at the airport to board a flight to Mombasa, said: “What really surprised me is it took at least 30 minutes to come with one fire engine – it was only one and there was no water; it’s just like there was no response.”
No serious casualties were reported. But Kenya Airways said two people – one passenger and one worker – were taken to hospital with smoke inhalation.
Kenyan officials said the government had set up a committee to investigate the cause of the fire. President Uhuru Kenyatta also visited the airport during the morning.
The blaze coincided with the 15th anniversary of the 1988 bomb attacks on the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, which killed 223 people. Nairobi was not one of the capitals affected by the closure of US embassies and consulates in 21 Middle East and Africa countries this week due to the threat of a terrorist attack.
The airport, which is so poorly serviced that passengers regularly curl up on floors to sleep out the wait for their connections, was originally built for 2.5m passengers in the late 1970s and now serves more than twice that number. A fourth terminal and second runway are planned as part of a five-year multimillion dollar expansion that recently got under way. Rows of small kiosks are due to be relocated as part of the refurbishment and several duty-free shops were repossessed last week following the expiry of their lease agreements.
Comments are closed.