From April 1st, the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) will be closed for 30 months. During these 30 months, the runway will be reconstructed, every night for 6 hours. This might be a challenge for the Kenyan flower growers, but when rescheduling the procedures in a correct way, the transport can still be streamlined. This is explained by Yvonne Tirop, the Marketing and Business Development Manager at Sian Roses. 
"The airport will be closed from midnight to 6 am. Therefore, all the flowers and documents need to be at the airport By 11 am", explains Yvonne. Due to these new regulations, and the fact that passenger flights are given priority, the regular schedules need to be adjusted drastically in order to deliver the flowers on time at their destination.
Sian Roses is well prepared. Over the last couple of months, they adjusted their schedules and started to test them over the last month. "This enables us to anticipate and solve the problems that we might come across in April."
"A lot has been done to upgrade the airport, including the construction of a new terminal, a new runway and other developments. Even though all these constructions have disrupted the logistical operations and affected the growers/exporters, in the end we will benefit from all these new developments”, concludes Yvonne.
Sian Roses
Sian Roses is a group of three flower farms, all located in Kenya, which produces a wide variety of cut flowers, both roses and calla lilies. Annually they produce 130 million flowers that are being exported to mainly Europe (Sweden, UK, Holland, Germany, France and Italy), Eastern Europe, USA, Dubai, Asia and Australia.
For more information
Sian Roses
Yvonne Tirop
Email: [email protected]
www.sianroses.co.ke