Wilson Airport is an airport in Nairobi, Kenya. It has flights to many regional airports in Kenya while Nairobi's main airport, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, serves domestic and many international destinations.
Location
Wilson Airport, is in Nairobi County, in the city of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya and the largest metropolitan centre in that country. It lies approximately, by road, south of the central business district. Nearby suburbs include Langata, South C, and Kibera. This location is approximately, by road, west of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest civilian airport in the country. The coordinates of Wilson airport are:1° 19' 12.00"S, 36° 48' 54.00"E.
Overview
The airport serves domestic and international traffic. It is used mostly by general aviation traffic. Industries that use Wilson Airport extensively include tourism, health care and agriculture. Wilson Airport averages traffic of around 120,000 landings and take-offs annually. Airkenya and other small airlines use Wilson Airport for scheduled domestic passenger services, instead of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Missionary aviation operators AMREF, Mission Aviation Fellowship and AIM AIR use Wilson Airport as their airport base on the African continent. It is used also for flight training. The airport is under the supervision of Kenya Airports Authority. trainers of the Kenya Air Force at Wilson Aerodrome in April 1973 As a result of faster check-in times and fewer flight delays, as compared to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Wilson Airport is commonly used by business executive aircraft for domestic and international travel. Common domestic destinations from Wilson Airport include Kisumu Airport, Mombasa International Airport and Eldoret International Airport. At above sea level, Wilson Airport has two asphalt runways: Runway 1 measures long and wide; Runway 2 measures long and wide.
History
The airport was established in 1933 as Nairobi Aerodrome and was used by Imperial Airways Empire air mail services from the United Kingdom via Egypt and continuing in stages to South Africa. The airport was later renamed Wilson Airport in 1962. It was named after Florence Kerr Wilson, a pioneer of aviation in Kenya. In 2012, Kiss TV did a 15-minute report called "Dying Wilson". The main aim was to bring to the public's attention the corruption that had taken land surrounding the airport which was now choking the airport as it had no place to expand.
