Did you know?
Wilson Airport was founded as a show of love!
It was opened by Wilson Airways, which was founded by Florence Kerr Wilson, a millionaire farmer, to woo Capt. Thomas Black.

Wilson Airport, one of Kenya's busiest Airport is named after Florence Kerr Wilson, the lady who founded it in 1929.

Initially, the airport was named Nairobi Aerodrome, but it was renamed Wilson Airport in honour of her in 1962.

Florence was a native of England who came to Kenya with her late husband, Major W.H Wilson in 1920s and settled in the Timau area, where they practised farming.

Following the death of her husband, Florence inherited a fortune, which she later used to acquire an open-cockpit aeroplane, which marked the beginning of her journey to establishing the Airport.

Mrs Wilson dubbed her plane Wilson Airways, and it was flown by Captain Tom Black, who had been a close associate following her husband's death.

Wilson Airways majorly provided mail delivery services across the East African region, considering that most areas were yet to be civilized.

After several years of operation (1929), the airfield moved from the Dagoreti Corner to the current Wilson airport location.

The relocation also gave the airfield the new name Nairobi West Aerodrome.

The success of her air travel business saw her introduce new services such as an aviation training school and air ambulance.

In 1939, during the World War II, the government took over all her aircraft, the officers managing them and turned the facility into a royal air force base.

However, in 1962, the government, through then Minister of Commerce and Communications, the late Masinde Muliro, Honour Mrs Wilson's efforts by renaming the airport after her.She died in 1968.

Currently the Airport connects several towns in Kenya including Malindi, Turkana, Nanyuki, Kisumu, Mombasa, Eldoret among other towns.