OR Tambo pushes for 2010 capacity
March 15, 2007
By Bloomberg and THABANG MOKOPANELE
Johannesburg - Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) expects its Johannesburg hub to handle 41 percent more passengers by 2010, when the country hosts the Fifa soccer World Cup.
OR Tambo International Airport handled more than 17 million passengers last year, from 12 million in 2002, and expected the number to reach 24 million by the end of 2010, general manager Chris Hlekane said in an e-mail yesterday.
Acsa is spending R5.2 billion in three years to upgrade its terminals in anticipation of the influx of visitors in 2010. It is spending 67 percent of the money at OR Tambo International Airport.
"We are very pleased with the progress we have made," said Hlekane. "We have reached … stages with regards to certain projects, which will impact passengers over the next couple of months."
Acsa has so far spent R1.2 billion in the last 18 months out of the original infrastructure development spend of R3.5 billion for OR Tambo International Airport. The airport has less than three years to spend the remaining R2.3 billion.
"We apologise for the inconvenience … but we have put measures in place to mitigate issues such as noise and dust," Hlekane said.
He reported on the latest envisaged completion dates for various projects. The central terminal building will be completed in the last quarter of 2009. The international pier, phase one (pier, bus station, link passage and arrivals corridor) and phase two (retail mall extension, mezzanine lounges) will be completed in May next year.
The terminal A departure upgrade, including a new upper roadway, is expected to be completed next month. The extended international departures concourse would be completed early next year.
The multistorey parkade, with its initial offering of 250 bays, would be done in July and it would have a further 1 000 bays by the end of this year.
Acsa would employ temporary staff to hand out flyers and help passengers find the new, temporary pedestrian route that goes alongside the upper roadway and through the multistorey parkade between the two terminal buildings. The pedestrian route is expected to be in operation for at least one year.
As a consequence of large increases in passenger numbers and the subsequent infrastructural developments, security at Acsa's flagship airport, particularly for airport access and baggage, had been increased, said Hlekane.
In terms of staff access control to the various zones within the airport, the R28 million new biometric access card and zoning system would be enhanced with additional security features.
Hlekane said: "The new system will automatically send out an alert when unauthorised persons violate a zone. This will be followed by immediate investigation into the zone violation, followed by strict disciplinary action."
Acsa strongly committed itself to proactively reducing baggage pilferage at the airport by introducing new security initiatives.
Hlekane said traffic growth at the airport had risen sharply with the rise in passenger numbers.
Acsa forecasts show that OR Tambo International Airport would handle at least 24 million passengers a year by the end of 2010.
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