The Eldoret International Airport. [Photo/kaa]
The Export Promotion Council of Kenya Chairman Peter Biwott has expressed fear over a projected slowed growth in export trade due to the under-utilization of the Eldoret International Airport.
Biwott said Friday that most traders engaged in export trade from the Rift Valley region have opted to use other means to ferry their produce to Nairobi and Mombasa using other means other than the airport besides the region registering low horticultural crops production.
The Eldoret airport is located in North Rift, an agriculturally rich region producing millions of bags of maize and wheat every year.
The Airport, however, last year reported low business as some exporters use mostly road to ferry their products to Nairobi and Mombasa.
In 2016, a leading cargo airline stopped operating from Eldoret International Airport while another made only one flight a week due to low freight volumes.
The airlines cited low horticultural production in the North Rift for their decision to suspend operations.
"We really have to work extra hard to produce more and increase activity at the airport," Biwott told journalists in Nairobi.
The airport three years ago received a major boost following the re-introduction of direct cargo export flights to the Middle East, a move that signaled the revival of the fortunes of Kenya’s third largest airport.