If you have visited an airport in Kenya or elsewhere in the world, you may have noticed a common feature among the vehicles operating within the facility: many are painted yellow.

🇰🇪 Breaking It Down

The distinctive colour is particularly visible on the airport apron, where vehicles move continuously around aircraft and other ground operations.

In some airports where cars are not painted yellow, they are usually paired with flashing amber or yellow beacon lights.

Unbeknownst to many, the yellow colour is used to make airport vehicles more visible for safety purposes.

📌 What You Need to Know

Airports are busy environments where aircraft, vehicles and ground workers operate in proximity. Drivers and pilots need to be able to quickly identify vehicles, particularly in areas where aircraft are being parked or prepared for departure.

The yellow colour stands out against any other colour in surfaces commonly found in airports. Yellow is easy to see in different weather and lighting conditions , including rain and low-light situations, hence its use.

The yellow colour makes vehicles easier to spot. Since vehicles at the airport can operate in areas where visibility can become a problem, a vehicle that is not easily visible can cause a safety risk.

For this reason, high-visibility colours are widely used for vehicles operating in aircraft movement areas.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) does not require every airport vehicle to be painted yellow. Instead, its standards emphasise that vehicles operating in movement areas should be easily seen and identified.

This has led many airports and ground equipment manufacturers to choose bright yellow, yellow-green or fluorescent colours because they provide strong visual contrast.

📰 Source: Kenyans.co.ke