Nairobi Airport

✅ Verified Review | Nairobi is not an airport where you would want a long transit time. Not a lot to do with a very small duty free shopping area and a few coffee shops. Relatively clean, but seating limited. Spent 5 hours here in transit between Tanzania and Bangkok. Free wifi at Java Coffee House near gate 14, but it is usually very busy there. I paid 500 shillings (about US$5) for unlimited airport wifi which was slow, but worked fine.

Whilst the new terminal at Nairobi Airport is excellent for arrivals and departures on domestic carriers, the "old" international terminal is in desperate need of upgrade. We flew BA in and out. Inbound arrivals processing was a chaotic experience, with passengers herded into a wide and deep queue with no apparent order. We were fortunate to determine one could queue to any counter regardless of passport and managed to get out in under an hour. Departure was also poorly managed. Apparently, a private contractor, Swissport, manages security and some operations. Departing passengers are required to display passports / boarding passes and X-ray carry on luggage no less than 5 times in completely uncoordinated fashion - shoes off / all electronics out immediately followed by another checkpoint with a different set of requirements. Swissport staff are surly and rigid, making no exceptions for medical needs. Also, no washrooms past the security gauntlet.

Transited twice during November 2016. Both arrivals and departures were swift, especially the visa on arrival process. However the Kenya Airways domestic departures area is still very scruffy. The Sky Team international departures area is new, bright and well populated with shops and cafes. However, Gates 4 to 14 [mostly used by other airlines] is still gloomy with low ceilings and basically untouched by the upgrade. I was with KQ, so had a good experience. Duty-free prices appeared to be high.

Nairobi used to be a grim old airport. The sort of place that made one avoid Kenya and I did for many years. Well, I had to go back for work and what a change. The fire was obviously the best thing that could have happened to it. I arrived in on a flight from Juba. I walked quickly from the aircraft to get a ahead of everyone and quickly arrived at immigration which was deserted. That would have been 5 minutes after getting off the plane. The officer processed my e-visa quickly and courteously. So I was in the baggage reclaim area a short time later. And the bags were there already. So from getting off the place to getting out of the airport was not much more than 10 minutes. Something of a record for an international flight anywhere on the planet. If only Heathrow could do that! I passed through a couple more times on the way down to Mombasa and back home to the UK. There were no significant delays or problems with the usual procedures. The new airport is pretty reasonable. There are still bit of the old airport which you can walk round to remind yourself how it once was. I used the Turkish business lounge which was not that great. The business lounges at Nairobi always were a bit rough and the Turkish lounge is below their usual standard.

The old part of Nairobi airport remains a bit tatty but there is evidence of a clean-up. There is still a smoking area near Gate 6. The new part is much better with better facilities e.g. a coffee shop, various duty free shops etc. If you enter via the new part and want to go to the smoking area near Gate 6 there is easy access but for some strange reason you have to go through a security check in order to return to the "new" gates.

A much improved airport following a massive re-build after the fire. The international section is now approaching international standards, with much more space, more boarding gates and a fair number of shops and cafes. The international arrival was via an airbridge but a bus was required for the regional departure.

Arrival: The new International Airport is definitely better than the old. Immigration lines were rather odd and the area appeared to be cramped. They do have the new electronics and we had the print out for the e-visa. By the way, this was really a breeze to apply for. Approval took 2 hours. The Baggage pickup was a mess with so many bags not being collected. The process took a long time. The flight arrived at 9.30pm so by the time we were done was 11.00pm. When we left the door leading outside, there was one security guard with so many people mingling around there, not a safe area I thought. Oddly enough there are no ATM's/Shops etc outside this exit unlike the old airport terminal. We had to walk a way to a very small shop to get our SIM cards. Perhaps this will have changed the next time I go there. The layout on the outside for carts/pickup is rather mixed up. Not easy to navigate. Departure: Note: There is now an additional security check before you even get to the airport. They started this in July 2016. Be aware of your times for airline departure. You exit your car/bus etc and only the driver goes though the checkpoint. Passengers have to go through a scan machine which was a huge joke really. The security guard did not care. We arrived at 5.30am for an 8.00am departure. There were no luggage carts outside once we have the taxi drop off. Oddly enough, you had to ask the security guard for a couple of carts which were IN the terminal. He did not allow our taxi driver to pick them up but allowed us. One very glaring issue I am sure was the second security scan of all bags. There is a bottleneck at the exit of the security check. Since we were early it was not an issue. Otherwise the airport was much better than expected for departures as well. If you are Sky Priority (KLM, Air France, Delta etc), it is great as they have a dedicated area for you. KQ is trying to automate the check in process.

Last week I travelled from Djibouti to Addis. Transit was via the new airport Terminal 1A in Nairobi. This is where KQ international flights arrive and depart from. I believe the Sky Team carriers are also handled from this facility. One word: Wow. This terminal is exceptional and must be the easiest to navigate, most comfortable I have experienced on the continent. It beats JNB, CPT and others hands-down. Processing was swift and comfortable, shops were open as were a selection of restaurants. There is clearly more to come from this airport as a number of shops seem to be preparing to open. Gate rooms are open and comfortable with access to bathrooms nearby. There are two lounges, both operated by Kenya Airways and the quality was fantastic. The lounge adjacent to gate 17 is far bigger and more comfortable than the other lounge. Head for this one if you have a choice. If you do not have lounge access, you can relax in the Java Café, or a number of excellent food outlets upstairs in the food hall (I think there were 4 or 5 other restaurant choices). Signage is good and the airport is very easy to navigate. There is free wifi which lasts for 15 mins. After this a fee is payable depending on the number of hours you wish to use the service. CIP lounges have free wifi. Fantastic new airport. Note, a few days prior to this I arrived at this airport on Ethiopian Airlines. We did not use the new airport and arrived in a temporary facility. I look forward to the entire airport being upgraded. My ratings are based upon the new terminal and facilities.

Airport is much improved - my first visit since 2014. There is a separate lane for visa holders but all passengers were being allowed to use it, thus I was behind many non visa taking up to 10 mins each yet when my wife and I arrived at the booth we were both through in under 2 minutes. Staff at booth polite and efficient. Luggage was a bit of shambles but we only waited 10 mins. For the return through terminal entrance security in 10 mins, and this delay was only caused by people not being ready. Check in completed in under 10 mins, straight through passport control as passport reader all ready had our details stored from previous trips. We then tried the new Java café, quick service and much improved over the old place. 2 security checks prior to entering the departure lounge, again reassured by 2 checks. Nairobi is slowly improving since the fire and much quicker processing than airports such as Miami which seem to be never less than 60 to 90 mins

Our arrival and journey through the airport was about as bad as it could get. Not enough staff meant a very long wait for everybody. Our departure, however, was even worse. Due to the fact that I needed a wheelchair they made us wait for almost 3 hours. In fact by the time that a wheelchair appeared, there wasn't even time to look at the duty free. Somebody needs to overhaul their procedures for disabled passengers and quickly.