This airport was supposed to be temporary. It’s three years past its use-by date

The airport

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi’s main international airport.

The flight

Emirates EK 722 from Nairobi, Kenya to Dubai, UAE.

The arrival

Nairobi traffic is a lottery at the best of times, but on this Sunday night it’s complicated further by the occasion of an African Nations Championship soccer game in the city, meaning I leave Nairobi almost four hours before my flight departure to allow for road closures and fan activity. In the end, the drive is smooth, despite a Kenyan victory.

On arriving at the airport, there’s a vehicle security check and, as the passenger, I must exit the car and walk through a security screening. This can sometimes be a cause for delays, with sniffer dogs checking vehicles, but today the lines are short and the checks are cursory.

The look

Jomo Kenyatta has a semi-circular design, with parking and drop-off in an area inside the wide wings of the terminal. It’s a beautiful design, though it was only ever intended to be temporary – when fire destroyed the international terminal in 2013, the replacement was planned to operate for a decade until another airport could be built. Construction of the new airport remains on hold after a deal to build it was cancelled, leaving Jomo Kenyatta looking tired once you step inside the doors.

Check-in

Check-in for my flight opens minutes after I enter the airport. There are only about 15 passengers in the queue ahead of me and, after a quick passport check to enter the line, I’m at the counter in less than 10 minutes. The luggage belts aren’t working, so the early entertainment is watching check-in staff drag suitcases to the main belt.

Security

Security is twofold: a baggage scan on entering the terminal and a second screening beyond check-in. Immigration requires my fingerprints, even for a departure flight, and each baggage scan also requires me to remove my shoes.

Food + drink

Don’t save your dinner plans for the airport. The pick of the slim options is Tempo Bistro and Bar, behind gate seven, serving up burgers, barbecue chicken, grilled snapper and the likes, with beer (including from the local Tusker brewery), spirits and wine. Otherwise, there’s a trio of cafes of the pre-prepared-sandwich style.

Retail therapy

The airport’s shops form an inner arc behind the boarding gates – the walking space between the two is minimal, so hope the airport isn’t heaving. Stretching between gates six and 12, the shops are a fairly uninspiring collection, ranging from two stores selling Kenyan coffee beans to a predominance of souvenir stores of the T-shirt, jewellery and wooden-artefacts variety. There’s a mall-style jewellery store and, perhaps most interesting of all, two Ikwetta outlets selling handmade Kenyan leather handbags, sandals and belts.

Passing time

Eat, drink, shop, spend a minute looking at the glass sculpture outside the Government VIP lounge and then, umm … Short of walking the terminal’s arc over and over, which feels a little like running on an athletics track, there are thankfully a multitude of charge points, so load up that streaming series or podcast and pass your own time. There are some neat little niches with tables and armchair-like seats inset into the walls for some peaceful pondering. Kids in tow? There’s a play area, complete with a giraffe made from recycled thongs, by gate 12.

The verdict

It’s the airport you have to have – a functional portal between A and B – with little to give you pause for admiration beyond the neat structural design. Get in, get moving and get out.

Our rating out of five

★★½

The writer travelled courtesy of World Expeditions.