KRA Customs and Border Control (C&BC) Department has registered a revenue collection growth of 10.12% at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). This is after KRA collected KShs 49.063 Billion against a target of KShs 46.991 Billion. The revenue collection represents a 104% performance rate against the financial year 2022/2023 revenue target.

Being the ideal gateway into and out of East and Central Africa, cargo handled at the JKIA has significantly increased following the reopening of the economy after the Covid-19 pandemic. This enabled KRA to collect KShs 5.388 Billion against a target of KShs 4.806 Billion from air navigation service charge, which is levied on planes landing at the airport. The revenue collection reflects a performance rate of 112%. The collection represents a 31.91% growth in revenue compared to the same period in the financial year 2021/2022.

Revenue collected from air passenger service charge at JKIA also recorded a tremendous growth of 53.33% compared to the financial year 2021/2022. The growth is largely attributed to an increase in the number of air passengers. According to the economic survey 2023, the total number of passengers handled at Kenyan airports increased from 6.703 million in 2021 to 10.238 million in 2022. This was largely attributed to an increase in the number of international and domestic passengers by 80.4 per cent and 32.1 per cent respectively. Passenger traffic at JKIA increased by 65.0% from 3.974 million in 2021 to 6.556 million in 2022. KRA collected KShs 11.570 Billion from the air passenger services charge at JKIA against a target of KShs 8.037 Billion. This translates to an excellent performance rate of 114%.

The excellent performance is also attributable to the various initiatives that have facilitated passengers and seamless clearance of cargo at the JKIA. The initiatives include the installation of baggage and cargo scanners, as well as introduction of automated risk management module in iCMS. The scanners facilitate faster clearance of cargo at the ports of entry. It now takes a minute to scan a container and approximately five minutes to analyse an image of the cargo contents. This has in turn substantially addressed congestion at the entry points. KRA has also continued to invest in other non-technological interventions to enhance its mandate under C&BC. One such measure is the enhancement of staff capacity at the various points of entry including the airports. The C&BC department now has a bigger labour force to effectively execute its mandate of trade facilitation and revenue collection.

Ag. Commissioner, Customs & Border Control