The Kenya Revenue Authority's Customs and Border Control Department has registered a revenue collection growth of 10.12 percent to Kes49 billion at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in the financial year 2022/2023.

In the year under focus, the department has a target of Kes46.991 billion. The revenue collection represents a 104 percent performance rate against the financial year 2022/2023 revenue target. Cargo handled at JKIA, the region's busiest airport significantly increased following the reopening of the economy after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rebound in business saw the taxman collect Kes5.39 billion against a target of Kes4.81 billion from air navigation service charge, which is levied on planes landing at the airport. The revenue collection reflects a performance rate of 112 percent.

In comparison, the collection represents a 31.91 percent growth in revenue compared to the same period in the financial year 2021/2022. Revenue collected from air passenger service charges at JKIA also recorded a tremendous growth of 53.33 percent 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 percent and 32.1 percent respectively.

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Air passenger services

Passenger traffic at JKIA increased by 65 percent from 3.974 million in 2021 to 6.556 million in 2022. The taxman collected Kes11.570 billion from the air passenger services charge at JKIA against a target of Kes8.037 billion. This translates to an excellent performance rate of 114 percent.

The strong 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.

These 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.

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