Kenya
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Operational notes that cover more than one field.

Operating into Kenya

What is different about flying a private jet into Kenya

Kenya starts with the permit. Landing and overflight permits are issued by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority and the desk plans on 72 business hours, though shorter turnarounds are often achievable when the file is complete. The KCAA wants the aircraft type and maximum takeoff weight, certificates of airworthiness and registration, worldwide insurance, crew licences and the full schedule. Every passenger travels on a Kenyan electronic visa and yellow fever certificates follow where the flight departed, not nationality. Ground handling is mandatory at Jomo Kenyatta through an approved agent; at the other three fields it is available and we arrange it regardless. Kenya runs on East Africa Time, UTC+3, with no daylight saving. Nairobi peaks July to October with the migration, the coast December to March.

For Nairobi the choice is between Jomo Kenyatta International and Wilson, and the aircraft usually makes it. Jomo Kenyatta has a single 13,507 foot runway at 5,330 feet of elevation, full customs and immigration, and sits about eleven miles from the city centre. It is the default for a long-haul arrival and for anything the shorter fields cannot take. Wilson is where the safari and bush operators are based, with runways of 5,052 feet and 4,798 feet at 5,546 feet of elevation, AVGAS alongside Jet A-1, and a busy circuit. The usual shape of a safari trip is long haul into Jomo Kenyatta, customs, a road transfer across Nairobi to Wilson, then a light aircraft into the Mara.

For the coast, arrive on the coast. Moi International at Mombasa has a 10,990 foot main runway at 200 feet of elevation, so the aircraft that needs a careful calculation out of Nairobi simply departs. Customs and immigration are on the field in two adjacent terminals, twenty minutes from central Mombasa. Malindi is the call for Watamu, Mambrui and the northern coast, roughly 132 kilometres from Mombasa by road and 104 by air, with customs on site but runways of 4,600 feet and 3,549 feet that keep it in light aircraft and turboprop territory, and a daylight operating window we confirm for the specific date. Clearing in Nairobi and flying back out is the wrong default for a coastal stay.

The constraint that catches crews out is density altitude at Nairobi. Both Nairobi fields sit above 5,300 feet and the city is warm all year, so a daytime departure regularly puts the effective figure well above the field elevation. At Jomo Kenyatta the long runway absorbs much of it and a maximum-weight departure is a calculation. At Wilson there is a third of the pavement and the same thin air, so light jets work only at the right time of day with a realistic payload. The desk runs the departure performance for the specific aircraft, temperature and load before quoting, and if Wilson will not take the aeroplane it plans the Jomo Kenyatta arrival with the road transfer built in.

Send the dates, the aircraft and the stops a week out, with the aircraft documents including the insurance wording, passenger and crew passports and visas, and whether the trip continues to the bush or the coast. The desk files the KCAA permit inside the 72 hour window with an alternate provider in reserve, arranges the handling, doubles the fuel release and confirms the Malindi window for the date.

Facts checked against the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority publications, the airport guides above and Icarus Jet operations data.