Mombasa Airport Targets 4.5 Million Passengers as MPs Demand Land Report
Kenya's main coastal gateway is preparing for a much bigger role in the region's tourism business. The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) wants to raise yearly capacity at Moi International Airport in Mombasa from 2.5 million to 4.5 million passengers. The plan includes upgraded terminals and a modern passenger lounge at the domestic departures terminal, which should reduce congestion at busy times. For tour operators and airline sales teams along the Indian Ocean coast, this is the clearest sign yet that Mombasa is being prepared for higher volumes of both leisure and regional traffic.
The expansion, however, now faces a land problem that lawmakers want solved first. On Thursday, 24 September, the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Transport and Infrastructure ordered aviation officials to hand over a full report on airport land that has been taken over by other users. The report must name the individuals and companies that occupy or claim ownership of the parcels in question.
Committee chairperson George Kariuki put the question directly to the officials in the room. "This Committee needs to know how much airport land has been encroached upon and who is doing it," he said. He then asked how KAA could plan to move from 2.5 million to 4.5 million passengers when the land needed for the work was not yet secure.
KAA Managing Director Moses Wekesa told the committee that the authority had faced real difficulties. He said KAA was pursuing several of the disputes in court and was acting on earlier reports, but admitted that putting past recommendations into practice had been hard. The directive was issued to Wekesa and to Aviation and Aerospace Principal Secretary Teresia Mbaika.
Traffic figures explain why the pressure is rising. KAA data shows that 1,718,674 passengers used Moi International Airport in 2025, compared with 1,663,072 in 2024. Airport managers link the growth to Kenya's partial open skies policy, which allowed more charter and transit flights to reach the coast. The airport already sits close to two thirds of its current ceiling, so new capacity will be needed before the next strong winter season arrives.
The coast also carries a large share of Kenya's inbound numbers. According to the Kenya Coast Tourist Association, about 60 per cent of the 2.5 million tourists who visited Kenya last year came to Mombasa through this airport. That concentration matters for the whole region. Ground handlers, hotels in Diani and Watamu, safari operators combining beach and bush, and inbound agents in Nairobi all depend on the same runway and the same terminal doors.
A larger Mombasa airport would change several things at once for the trade. More terminal capacity makes it easier for European and Gulf carriers to add charter series or scheduled frequencies in the peak months. It also creates room for regional feeder routes from Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Ethiopia, which would make two-centre and multi-country packages simpler to sell. Cargo capacity is part of the same story, since horticulture and seafood exports share the airfield with passenger flights.
There are open questions that agents and operators should follow closely. No completion date has been announced, and the timetable will depend on how quickly the land disputes are settled. Parliament's demand for names and parcels suggests the process could involve evictions and further court cases.
Travel businesses planning for 2027 and beyond may want to look at their own coastal product now. If Mombasa doubles its capacity within the next few years, seat costs in high season could fall, new source markets could open, and groups that were once too large for the destination could become realistic. Operators who build relationships with coastal suppliers early will be in a stronger position when the extra seats finally arrive.
