Located in the Embakasi suburb 18 kilometres (11 mi) southeast of Nairobi's central business district, the airport has scheduled flights to destinations in over 50 countries.

[7] Plans for the airport were drawn up in 1953, work started in January 1954, and by mid-1957 it was found possible to bring the operational date forward to mid-March 1958.

The nearest mountain ("high ground") would be a misnomer when Embakasi itself is 1,624 metres (5,328 ft) AMSL), 40 km (25 mi) away, and 10 degrees off the runway centre-line.

[citation needed] On Sunday 9 March 1958, Embakasi Airport (now JKIA) was opened by the last colonial governor of Kenya, Sir Evelyn Baring.

The result was an engineering success of which the contractors were very proud; so accurate was the cambering that the wet surface of the runway dried out evenly on each side of the centre-line.

There was no physical limit to extending the paved length to this figure, but more definite plans for the operation of the big jets into Kenya was required before such an increase was contemplated.

[citation needed] At the time in 1958, Nairobi was one of the few towns in the world that could boast of a 1965 airport with an expansion option at hand.

And although Embakasi was designed to meet Nairobi's particular needs, both airports shared a lightness and spaciousness that was at the time extraordinarily refreshing.

[12] On 14 March 1978, construction of the current terminal building was completed on the other side of the airport's single runway and opened by President Kenyatta.

[citation needed] In October 1994, a British Airways Concorde landed at the airport for purposes of testing the aircraft's performance at high altitude.

[17] In February 2017, the airport was awarded a Category One Status by the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States, thus allowing possible direct flights between the US and Nairobi.

[18][19] On 7 August 2013, a fire originating in the immigration area caused massive damage to the airport and forced it to suspend operations temporarily.

[20] The worst fire in the airport's history occurred on the fifteenth anniversary of the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, but no connection was immediately obvious and no terrorist group has claimed responsibility.

[21][22] According to Kenyan officials, firefighting efforts were hampered by some of the first responders choosing to loot the airport instead of fighting the blaze.

[23] International arrivals had been bused to a temporary facility set up in the ground floor of the new parkade until the reconstruction of the damaged areas.

[24] On 11 September 2024, a strike was held by airport workers against proposals to lease the facility to the Adani Group of India for 30 years.

The original terminal, located on the north side of the runway, is used by the Kenya Air Force and is sometimes referred to as Old Embakasi Airport.

[29] Terminal 1A has a capacity of 2.5 million passengers a year and three levels, 30 check-in counters, 12 departure gates, ample seating, and food and retail options.

Terminal 1B houses common-use check-in counters, with security check points leading to the departure lounge on level 1.

[32] With passenger numbers at the airport nearing the capacity limit, Roads, Transport, and Public Works Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen announced in 2023 that the President William Ruto's government would resume the project in 2024 as a public-private partnership (PPP) with an expected completion in 2027.

In January 2017, a new instrument landing system-equipped runway 5,500 metres (18,000 ft) in length was approved for construction at a cost of KES 37 billion shillings (approximately US$370 million).

The runway would also have enabled long haul flights to destinations like New York city carrying up to 32 tonnes of passengers and cargo.