Airport Operations: Issues and Strategies for Addis Ababa and Nairobi Airports

This document discusses the historical background, facilities, and possible consequences in physical structure of Addis Ababa and Nairobi airports. It explores the issues faced by these airports and the strategies implemented to overcome them. The document also highlights the current situation of competition between Addis and Nairobi airports and provides alternative strategies for their development.

Airport Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Historical Background of Addis Ababa Airport..........................................................................3
Historical Background of Nairobi Airport...................................................................................3
Facilities Provided by the ADD and NBO..................................................................................4
Possible Consequences in Physical Structure..............................................................................5
Issues of Addis Ababa Airport....................................................................................................5
Issues for Nairobi Airport............................................................................................................8
Strategies of ADD and NBO.....................................................................................................11
Current situation of competition between Addis (ADD) and Nairobi (NBO)...........................11
Alternative Strategies.................................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Aviation industry is all about the providing customer satisfaction and perfection in their
services but what the customers see the outcome of the operations which are managed by the
airport managers to give all the customers the satisfaction and comfort of travelling to their
desirable place. As airport operation have set some health and safety standards which they have
to follow as per the requirement of the policies of government. As aviation industry is growing
very rapidly so the need to provide the safety and efficiency in the airport have now become very
important, as some airports shows the reflection of that region. The airports have now adopted
the latest technologies to attract more customers as aviation is also a business aspect of the
country as many companies invest in the airports to attract as many customers to opt their
company to get the best services. There is a need to employ the efficient candidates and with
required knowledge and skill about the operation of airport due to high competition in the airline
companies globally. There are many airport operations which are handled by the employees and
the managers which are Air side operations, land side operations, terminal operations. Different
area need different knowledge and set of skills to achieve efficiency.
Historical Background of Addis Ababa Airport
Addis Ababa Airport is in the Addis Ababa, Ethiopia which is situated around 3 miles
(4.83 km) away from the city. The airport was established I the city in 1960 by Ethiopian airlines
(Atkin,Hoogeveenand Stolletz, 2019). The airport has been diagnosed with an issue of small
runway which was resolved by the government in 1962 and Boeing 720 was used in the runway
to operate its transportation by that time. After the expansion the new runway was able to
accommodate a Boeing 747 which was much bigger in passenger capacity and have more
services to satisfy the passenger 2003 the airport have expanded its intentional airport which
enabled the airport to market its services and promote the tourism in the world.(Price and
Forrest, 2016)
Historical Background of Nairobi Airport.
The official name of the airport is Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, in Kenya which
was established 1958 to honor Jomo Kenyatta which was Kenya's first president. In 1953, The
plans for this drawn up. It is a great international Nairobi's airport. This airport is situated in the
Embakasi. Its original name is Embakasi Airport and this name was altered in 1978 to give great
respect to Jomo Kenyatta, because he is the first prime minister and president. On 9 march 1958,

this airport was inaugurated by the governor of Kenya. The construction of the airport was quite
a challenge for the engineers as they a to build the runway on the crust of lava (Kazda and Caves,
eds., 2015). Jomo Kenyatta international airport in the 50 countries has scheduled its flights. In
2016, this airport served around seven million passengers. It is the seventh engaged airport in
passenger traffic. The airport has a mountain nearby which came in the construction of the
airport and it is 25 miles (ca. 40 km) away from the airport. The airport was designed n such a
way that the passengers' cam sees the runway from inside the building and experience he views
of landing and taking off planes while waiting for their fights. The runways which was 10000 ft
(ca. 3 km) long was an art of attraction for the world. In 1972 the airport was funded by world
back for its expansion for its new runways for domestic as well as intentional flights. The airport
had put more emphasis on the convenience of the passengers and have built taxi stands, food
marts inside the airport. The airport has also installed all the safety measure to safeguard their
passengers while they are in the airport (Veatch and Goentzel, 2018). Kenya vision 2030 was set
up by Mwai Kibaki (president) in 10 June 2008. Green field project established to enhancing the
capacity of passengers by the 2030. This green project would include car parking, access road,
bus parking areas, access taxiways and ground services equipment.
In the 2017, the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport was rewarded by federal aviation
administration and allow various direct flights between Nairobi and US. In April 2017 provide a
licence to fly US by transportation department in US. This airport has two terminals. The first
terminal is set up in a semi circular position.
Facilities Provided by the ADD and NBO
As per the plan there are different services are provided by these airports are- Free Wi Fi
provided to the passengers, Currency exchange facility is available at airport, there are many
restaurants in both airports, Luggage management and Travel agencies are provided to improve
the3 consumer experience.
Airlines Operating from the NBO and ADD-
1. Jambojet
2. Fly540
3. Kenya Airways
4. Airkenya Express
5. African Express Airways

6. Mombasa Air Safari
Destinations Served by ADD and NBO
Both airports provide the international services. Some of main location served by airport
are- China, India, African Continent, Thailand, Belgium, South Africa, France, Italy, Qatar,
Angola, South Korea and many other locations around world.
Access Form Catchment Areas
There are some areas that can be considered as the catchment area of both airports. These
areas are- International students and tourists, international business personalities and mineral
suppliers who import or export raw material from international market.
Connectivity of NBO and ADD
Connectivity of both airports is high. As these airports are projected as international
airports their connectivity maintained with rest of world. These airports are connected from the
other locations by direct and indirect ways. They are providing services to international
passengers. It can be considered as their connectivity is good from outer world.
Possible Consequences in Physical Structure
Addis Ababa Airport is one of the best and largest airport in the Africa. The Air
transportation is one of the best and fastest way to travel. Airports are important for the country
in different ways. For the national and international people this is one of the way to enter or
leave the country. Millions of people visit airports every year. To handle huge crowd each day in
airports and avoid consequences the design and structure of airport should be well designed.
There are different issues an airport can face different issues that are related to physical
design and its capacity. The Addis Ababa Airport and Nairobi Airport are selected to develop the
as state of art and international tourist hub in the African Continent. As these airports are planned
to developed as tourist hub and the investment is offered by the two major airlines of African
Continent. These companies are most frequent to these two locations. For the further expansion
of these two airports an analysis is required to evaluate the possible issues related to physical and
capacity of airport. This evaluation and analysis will help the developers to address these issues
to minimize the major problems in the structure and operations of airports in the future.
As thses two Ariports will be develped as tourism hub there are different things they need
to consider inprocess of developing it as tourism destination. This airports are developed for both
international and domistic operations so it is important for them to design the airport in proper

way to avoid different structural issues. Here are some issues are explained for ADD and Nairobi
Airport. These are some crucial issues that might reduce the efficiency of airports.
Issues of Addis Ababa Airport
Airfield Accidents-
The airfield is an area which is used by the aircrafts and ground staff. This area is used to
perform operations like tack off, landing, maintenance of aircrafts. This is most important part of
airport. The continuity of airport is depended on the condition and situations in the area. This is
the part most crucial for the performance of the airport. For the proposal of plan Addis Ababa
airport some issues related to airfield can be of different types. For different conditions issues are
different (Haider and Khateeb, 2018). The weather condition is big problem to the airfield. The
extreme temperature in Africa is normal and in this condition is difficult to maintain the Asphalt
and runway conditions. Any damage to the runway can cause major or minor accident because
the landing and tack off condition are most crucial and risky for the aero planes. Other problem
with the airfield is traffic condition for the planes. As it is proposed as the one of the largest
tourist hub in the African Continent, so, this airport has to face major traffic in air and on
runways. So traffic on the field will be issue for airport staff. For the heavy aircraft this airport
needs efficient runway to prevent failure in the landing and tack off for planes like.
Over Loaded Terminals-
As per the development plan there are two airport terminals at the Addis Ababa Airport.
The Addis Ababa Airport is capable of handling 52800 passengers a day with normal
functioning. As there are two wide and open terminal in the airport to transport passengers from
ground transportation facility to the check out and check in facility. There are different possible

issues for the proposed terminal are major to handle. First thing is about the terrorist attack there
will high chances of extreme damage because. The check in hall is open and consists of
transparent glasses and high mounted roof. In the terrorist attack it is difficult for the security
forces to plan any evacuation plan for the employees and passengers. Open hall increases the risk
of failure of detection of illegal transportation of guns, drugs and substances (Wagner and
Walton, 2016). As the open floor is provided to the passengers then it can possibly cause mis
management of people in the airport. As the tourist hub it should have marginal capacity to
handle extra passengers in the adverse conditions. This is how terminal design can lead to
different issues which are need to be discussed in the further processes of expansion.
Accessibility Issues of Airport-
The location of the airport is close to the city and it is easily accessible. There are some
issues in the accessing process which are related to the traffic conditions. Airport will be
developed near the city so passengers have to face major traffic condition on the connecting
roads.
Complexities for People Who Have Connecting Flight
The Addis Ababa Airport is designed for both domestic and international flights. There
are over all two terminals in the airport which are used to separate the domestic passenger from
the internal passengers. This is how it is plan to handle the passenger with high control without
causing major trouble to people. Issues with domestic and international passenger are minor.
Some of the issue form the airport are related to the baggage transfer of the people who are
checking in from the domestic airport and looking for connecting flight in the international
terminal. The other issue related to the airport are passengers have to cover long distance to
move between the domestic and international airport. The main concern with Addis Ababa
airport is management of domestic and international flights on the runways.
Management Issues Due to Large Size Terminals
The issues Addis Ababa Airport can face are relates to management of the different
functions of airport. There are different department works on the airport floor where designed to
manage the operations in the airport (Olivier, 2018). Some departments of Addis Ababa Airport
are- HRM, Security, Air traffic control, communication department, ground handling
department, Quality assurance department, aviation services and business development
department. The main issues in the airport is relates to communication gap due to large number

of passengers on the floor and other management issue airport can face is related to the security
department due to open hall and huge population.
Issues In handling people on Floor
This will be the largest airport in the African continental and it will be handling the
millions people a year which is large number. So this will be one of the biggest issue for the
airport and this will be really difficult for the airport management staff to manage all the
operations efficiently.
Economic Handling Issues-
As it is developed as the one of the largest airports in Africa. The operational cost of the
airport will be too high. The are different facilities are provided to the passengers who are
looking for checking in and checking out. There are different expenses that airport have tom
made to provide high satisfaction to the passengers (Henriksen and Ponte, 2018.). The economy
of the Addis Ababa airport runes on the fund provided by the associated airline and the fund
collected from the passengers for providing services. The possible issue they can face in the
airport could be allocation of funds and management in the flow of cash due to complex
operations.
Revenue and Expenditure-
The revenue generated by the airport is collected from the passengers and rest of
operational funds are provided by the associated airline partner. Other possible issues related to
the expenditure could be- in the development process authorities have to spend too much capital
and this will be really difficult for them to maintain and manage the expenditures.
Airlines-
There are two airlines are investing in the development of the airport. There are some
issues that can affect the efficient operation of the airport (Dougan, 2016). This investor airline
can try to restrict other airlines from using airport and this can cause damage to the airport and
passengers.
Restrictions-
On the basis of tradition, culture, religion and race different legislation are made by the
government which can cause problems in the efficient operation of the airport. Different
operations proposed by the legal body can restrict the airport management to perform some
operation which are important for the functionality.

New development-
There are different issues that airport management will might face. These issues are
related to technology, funds, management, structural restriction and passenger control (Lumpé,
2016). Technical development are essential for airport for effective operational and this can be
obtained by the keep marginal possibility for updates and developments.
Issues for Nairobi Airport
Airfield-
The issues faced by the Nairobi airport are same as the Addis Ababa airport because the
temperature and weather conditions faced by the airport for the field are same. The variation in
the temperature in day and night can cause damage to the runway which is not good for better
tack off and landing condition for the planes like airbus and Boeing. The other thing is related to
the air traffic condition, due to high traffic this will be really difficult for airport and ground
management to manage the ground traffic.
Terminals-
In the Nairobi airport number of terminals are two and one terminal is separately assigned
to the baggage handling operation or cargo handling. The main terminal in the airport is divided
in the four part which are 1A, B, 1C and 1E. The terminal 1D is used for departure and arrival
for the domestic passengers (Klimas, 2016.). The main issue with the terminals of the Nairobi
airport will be possible with the terminal 1D which is used by the domestic passengers for arrival
and departure. This will be too complex for the airport management to handle the passengers in
this terminal. Other possible issue with the terminal are security and maintenance issues. The
main problem with Nairobi airport is related to the heavy passenger rush and this will cause
management issues.

Access-
The Nairobi airport is located in the end of city and the Nairobi is one of the most famous
tourist destinations so the rush of tourists is high in the city. It can cause access problems to the
passengers. There are only few roads lead to the location of the airport so the traffic on the road
will be high (Wong and Brooks, 2015). This will prevent the passengers from reaching to the
airport with in the time. The other issue with this airport are- the usability of different
administrative services to the airport is low and it can cause major damage in the accidental
conditions.
Domestic and International Destinations-
This airport is located on the location which is related to the Asia, Europe and Africa
continent. That's why air traffic is too high for the airport. Other than this the passenger capacity
is high for the airport but this is really difficult for the management to handle the large number of
passengers in the terminal 1D. The other issue is similar to the Addis Airport where the
passenger will feel inconvenience in the connecting flights. These are issues which are important
to consider related to the terminal handling.
Management Model-
The conditions of the Nairobi airport is different from the Addis Ababa Airport because
there are only two terminals in the ADD airport and in Nairobi airport there are three terminals
which are used to handle the international and domestic airport. Airport staff have to manage
different activities. For this there are certain department are formed to improve the performance
of the airport (Kim, Jo and Shin, 2015). Main issues that Nairobi airport can face are- Issues with
handling of domestic passengers, issues in the communication process and security department.
Cause of errors and gaps in the communication process can reduce the operational efficiency and
management.
Revenues and Expenditures-
The African countries are facing financial issues which are big trouble. The issues will be
faced by the airport are related to the management of fund and flow of cash. This airport will be
huge, and they need to arrange fund from the associated airline and the functions that help the
management of airport to generate revenue. The major issue with the airport is in the currency
exchange. Because this airport will be developed as the tourism hub there will be too many
tourist and locals to handle by the airport authority. So this larger can affect the revenuer of the

airport. Nairobi airport is large in size so there are too many expenses that are need to be handle
by airport management. The operations like cleaning, lightning are high for airport which are
higher then Addis Ababa Airport because of natural lighting is high in Addis airport due to
transparent pyramid structure on the top of roof.
Population-
There are too many people Nairobi Airport have to handle. Along with the Addis Ababa
Airport, Nairobi Airport will be developed as the tourist attraction. This can lead to increase in
number of passenger a day (Eriksson and Steenhuis, 2015). This can reduce the performance of
the airport in the operations and guest handling. Other issues this airport have to face with the
population are associated with the basic services that are need to be provide to everyone. Airport
will might face issue with transportation and accommodation. This is how high number of
passenger can affect the operations and performance of the airport. This can reduce the customer
rating for the airport.
Economy-
For the large sizer airport this is really difficult for the finance department to manage the
economical conditions consistently good for airport. There are some possible issues that can
affect the performance of the Nairobi airport. There are some possible issues with the economy
of Airport are- recession is one of the biggest issue for aviation industry, increasing cost of fuel
can cause major impact on the economy of airport. In the international tourism there are
different alternative sources which are suitable alternative for the tourist. This is how the
alternative sources of transportation are affecting the economy of Nairobi airport.
Airline-
There are other airlines are there which are providing better services and offers to
consumers and these sources are main threat to the Nairobi airport. This how the other airlines
can affect the profit and development of the new airport in the Nairobi.
Restrictions-
It is important for the airport to follow the national and international rules and regulation
to work without any legal trouble. There are many countries are facing issues related to rights.
This issue are preventing the airlines to operating in such locations. This is how political and
legal restrictions can affect the operation and profit of airport.
New developments-

Issues in the new developments are related to the technological condition in the country
and market place (Mediratta, Ahluwalia and Yeo, 2016). Further conditions like economic,
political, and environmental conditions can affect the efficient new development in the airport.
These are some issues that are possible for the Nairobi Airport.
Strategies of ADD and NBO
There are different strategies and policies are used by these two airport to develop the
African continental as tourism hub. These airlines can provide better offer to the consumers to
attract them to use services. This will allow them to generate more revenue. By using marketing
and promotion strategy these airport can allow more tourist to visit Africa. Better pricing and
services can be offered to the international consumer to use two of these airports (Urban, 2016).
This is how these strategies can help the ADD and NBO airport to work efficiently in future and
perform more development for improved performance.
The strategies that are used by the Nairobi and ADD airport are more based on the tourist
attraction. They are considering their current competitors to develop better business plans.
Promotion strategy used by both airport is Digital and social media based. The Passenger
feedbacks are used by the ADD and NBO to improve their services and attract more guests.
Current situation of competition between Addis (ADD) and Nairobi (NBO)
Ethiopian airways and Kenya compete for Addis or Nairobi hub power which carriers to
expand in Africa. Kenya airways always influence in African market by aligning itself and also
carriers smaller that seek to build home-based Nairobi. It will mention as continental hubs. It is
including for promoting the greater corporation which will forecast economic growth and
development (Ssamula, 2012). Kenya airways announced to make strategic plan for building
stronger relations with different types of reservation system. It will develop partnership to
maintain maintenance of flight and its operations.
On the other hand, Ethiopian airways looks to improve Addis Ababa hub which carriers for
expanding the network across the world. It has tough competition between Addis and Nairobi
because they wanted to expand their global network across world. A common competitiveness in
between Addis (ADD) and Nairobi (NBO) determine in African market. It has been created
summation by airline in market, in fact it is true when competitive should be measured on route
basis, find out the percentage of routes within given market (Shalemu, 2019). As per competition
analysis, it can be determined that the percentage route Adidas are become moderate to low, it

will share between 0.l to 0.4 % of all routes in 2016 as compare to Nairobi. Sometimes, it is very
difficult to find out competitiveness between them because both are extremely most popular in
Africa (Langeslag, 2017).
Figure 1 Competition in international route
(Source: Competition in international route between ADD and NBO. 2018)
According to current situation, it has been found that it highly competitive environment that
keeps route data help for identifying actual performance between Addis (ADD) and Nairobi
(NBO). In recently, Ethiopian expansion is very tough competition which is not smoothly
sailing. However, it is the biggest obstacle of Addis Singapore route which has viable to onward
connection with the time from Australia (Vogel, 2019). Kenya and Ethiopian have been
ambitions of growth and testify airways to Africa in various areas. Kenya airways has been made
a plan to restructure their network in past year due to increase competition level. It will not easy
for maintain the position in global marketplace. This type of strategy will help for improving the
strong position which provide virtual network path.
Strengths and Weaknesses of ADD and NBO to work in same region
Strengths-
1. Capacity of tourist and domestic passengers.
2. Help to increase tourism in African Continent.
Weaknesses

1. Cause extra cost to airports.
2. These airports will face competition from each other.
Opportunity
1. To provide world wide services to passengers,
2. look for further expansion in other countries.
Threats
1. Other airlines are threats to the airports.
2. Terrorists attacks are major threat to these airports.
Comparative Analysis
Asset ADD NBO
Traffic HIgh Slighyly Low
Destinations China, India, African
Continent, Thailand, Belgium,
South Africa, France, Italy,
Qatar, Angola, South Korea
Thailand, Belgium,
South Africa, China, France,
Italy, Qatar, Angola, South
Korea
Alternative Strategies
The current strategy used by this airport is good to attract more tourists. There are some
other alternative strategies are possible which can help to improve the performance and
operations of Airport. Apart from the marketing these two airports can attract more tourists by
launching an event that includes different international celebrities. This will allow them to
improve their normal and financial operations.
Various possible alternative strategies for the ADD and NBO are-
Target market should be studied to improve specific areas of service; this research will
help them to design new procedure to improve consumer satisfaction. There are different
technologies like artificial intelligence and automation can be used to provide better comfort
level to people. AI and Automation can be used for bothpeople managemet and baggage
management with in the airports to avoid various consequences.

By projecting company in innovation can help the company to gain more customers and
the last strategy that can be used by the airports is by increase the customer loyalty to get better
response.
CONCLUSION
In this report, it has been summarized the consequences of physical design and its
capacity limitation of ADD and NBO. This airline is based on two airports in Africa that are
developing strategic plan to business expansion, which supported by respective operations of
Addis and Nairobi. Furthermore, it can be assessed strategy into airports that developing tow
hubs with respective airline partner of Kenya and Ethiopian airways. However, it can find out the
current situation of ADD and NBO in terms of competition when it can improve by
implementing strategies for expansion business in Africa as well as global world. In this report, it
is discussed the propose alternative strategy that applicable in both airport of Africa.

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Online:
Competition in international route between ADD and NBO. 2018 [online] Available through:<
https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/tamer/files/cmt_oct-2018.pdf>