Eldoret International Airport Resumes European Flights

Farmers in the North Rift have been handed a lifeline after the Eldoret Airport resumed direct flights to Europe. 

This will see cut flowers from the region exported to European markets.

According to Nation, the airport transported 956 tonnes of agricultural produce in 2006 but was reduced to passenger and cargo imports as from 2009. 

The airport will now export fresh agricultural produces to markets like Netherlands and Belgium following a deal with European markets.

"For many years, farmers have been transporting their produce by road, which means extra costs. But now this is a game-changer in the horticultural sector as it will significantly lower costs.

“Farmers are excited about this new milestone and we are targeting to increase volumes from the current five tonnes per week to 15 to over 20 tonnes starting this week. That is five tonnes in each of the three flights in a week," the airport manager Walter Agong’ stated.

The airport has a capacity to handle 1.2 million tonnes of cargo annually and boasts a cold storage capacity of 250 metric tonnes.

The airport exported its first batch of 5 tonnes of flowers on November 30, and in the last two weeks, has exported 10 tonnes of the flowers.

Prior to the restart, farmers from the North Rift region transported their produce by road to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

Head of marketing at Eldoret Airport Charles Mwita said that direct exports will help cut costs and maintain the quality of the produce.

“We are keen to start exports of other agricultural produce like avocado… Currently, we have limited space for the exports by the airliner but they have promised us that from January next year we will get more space to export local agricultural produce,” he said.

The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), in an earlier statement, said it wanted to increase the volumes to boost the trade in the North Rift region.

“The airport, while working closely with flower and horticultural farmers in the region, aims to (export) at least 35 tonnes per load by March next year,” the statement read in part.

For close to a decade, the airport has been involved in handling imports and passenger flights owing to low volumes of agricultural produce for export.