This is a post by authors Victoria Swai and Hussein Maulid Qubah. Victoria and Hussein work for Kilimanjaro Aviation Logistics Centre (KALC), a subsidiary of Universal Weather and Aviation, Inc. which is headquartered in Mwanza, Tanzania. Victoria and Hussein are experts on permits for the African region and can be contacted at victoriaswai@universalaviation.aero or husseinmaulidqubah@univ-wea.com.
Airport slot requirements for Nairobi (HKJK) went into effect in April 2015, due to increased traffic at this busy airport. If operating your business aircraft here, ensure that you give yourself sufficient lead time for all landing permit. Permit documentation requirements are somewhat unique at this location and permit revisions may involve additional lead time. However, slots are needed only for specific aircraft sizes.
Airport and government authorities in Kenya are strict in terms of business aviation requirements. They carefully scrutinize requests for landing permits and permit revisions, and they are diligent in ensuring that documentation is correct. For any general aviation (GA) flight you must provide the purpose of travel, a local business contact, and information on everyone onboard. Official lead time, for landing and/or overflight permits, is 72 working hours. Shorter notice permit processing is possible, at Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA’s) discretion, assuming required documentation is submitted and correct.
Kenyan CAA operating hours are Monday-Friday 0800-1500 local, and they’re closed weekends and holidays. If you plan to operate on a weekend, or need to revise a permit for a weekend operation, the request should be submitted no later than Thursday during CAA’s operating hours. Outside of normal CAA hours permit processing is likely only possible for emergency flights.
Once a landing permit is issued it’s valid for a 72-hour operating window. Schedule revisions outside this period require application for a new permit. Certain other revision requests, such as operating to a different airport in Kenya, also require a new permit.
For landing permits you’ll need to provide purpose of flight, airworthiness and registration certificates, worldwide insurance, and complete crew and passenger information, as well as pilot licenses (pilot medicals are not required). On arrival/departure at HKJK crew must provide four copies of the gen dec, stamped by customs. Always carry your worldwide insurance documentation onboard as local authorities have the right to board the aircraft to ensure documentation is correct and meets required standards. Be mindful that Kenyan authorities require certificates of airworthiness with an expiration date. If your certificate does not have an expiration on it, you’ll need to provide a current maintenance log and/or a certificate of release to service. If an operator is coming to Kenya for maintenance purposes, it’s mandatory to provide authorities with your latest maintenance log. To secure any landing permit for Kenya you’ll also need to provide complete flight routing to/from all in country locations. Charter (non-scheduled commercial) operators must also provide an air operator certificate (AOC) for permit purposes.
As of April 2, 2015, HKJK has become a slot coordinated airport. However, after implementing it, the airport slot requirements have been modified to only be required for large aircraft, especially if it will be on the ground for a number of days. All arrivals/departures for these large aircraft must have assigned airport slots. Without arrival or departure slots flight plans, will be denied. Slots are requested via your ground handler who will forward the request, by email, to airport authorities. Aircraft parking is allocated by the airport authority once airport slots are processed. Note that smaller aircraft including (but not limited to B737, don’t require airport slots as they can park remotely.
The HKJK airport authority requires a minimum of 48 hours notification to process slot requests. If the requested slot time is not possible, airport authorities will advise the next closest available slot time. Once a slot is confirmed, the confirmation number must be placed in remarks section 18 of your ICAO flight plan. Be mindful that if there’s a schedule change you’ll need to revise airport slots with at least 24 hours notice.
As CAA hours at HKJK are only weekdays until 1500 local it’s important to submit permit requests and revisions early in the day and at least two days prior for weekend operations. Also, be aware of the new airport slot requirements for this airport and the lead times associated with arranging them.
If you have any questions about this article or would like assistance planning your next trip to Kenya, contact husseinmaulidqubah@univ-wea.com.
Stay tuned for Part 3, which covers customs, immigrations, and local area information for operations to Nairobi, Kenya.
Got a question for Hussein Maulid about this article?
Hussein Qubah is Manager, Operations and Administration for Kilimanjaro Aviation Logistics Centre (KALC) – a subsidiary of Universal Weather and Aviation, Inc. Having been with KALC for over 10 years, Hussein has general management responsibility for both operations and office administration and ensures that client expectations are exceeded through delivery of a total quality service. He’s appreciated by clients for quick/timely permit turnarounds, leveraging expertise in African business aviation and providing high levels of customer service. Previous to his current position Hussein worked as Permits Officer and then as Team Lead Operations. Hussein is a graduate with a BA degree in Industrial Production Economics/Labour and HR and is fluent in both English and Swahili. Known for his abilities in team building, operations management and successfully organizing all manner of permits Hussein’s goal is to ensure smooth and trouble-free client operations through the region.