Airport in Ulundi grows "wings" again, hopefully for good

Today’s launch of the multi-million rand development work to be undertaken at the Prince Mangosuthu Airport in Ulundi promises to bring the much-needed economic and tourism boost for the people of Zululand, north of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), putting to rest years of lying idle.

The airport, which was transferred to the Zululand District Municipality by the Provincial Government, has not been fully functional since Pietermaritzburg became a Capital City of KwaZulu-Natal and will soon have its structural defects in the building, fire fighting resources and runway, among other, renovated courtesy of the R30 m injected by the provincial government recently.

The financial injection was approved after the MEC for Finance, Ms Ina Cronjé toured the airport in a bid to inspect and get first hand information on the defects that had been reported.

The launch, held at the airport, saw the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Dr Zweli Mkhize, MEC for Finance, Ina Cronjé, and Mayor of Zululand District Municipality, Zanele Magwaza-Msibi as well as hundreds of invited influential executives in the business sector and government.

Part of the exciting news was the announcement of the airline, Federal Air, that will be operating between Ulundi and Pietermaritzburg. Plans are also underway to ensure that flights from Ulundi to Johannesburg and Durban are also available in the near future.

The launch hosted by the Zululand District Municipality is a joint effort by the KwaZulu-Natal government, its parastatals- Trade and Investment KwaZulu-Natal and Tourism KZN.

Mayor of Zululand District Municipality, Zanele Magwaza-Msibi, said the main objective was to get the airport to maximise economic development opportunities for the people of Zululand District.

“The R30 million windfall is welcome and will help us refurbish certain key areas of the airport. When refurbishment is done, the airport will then be able to move into category four, with scheduled flights starting early next year. We have appointed Federal Airline to ensure that flights are available for use between Ulundi and Pietermaritzburg route. There will also be connecting flights from Pietermaritzburg to Johannesburg,” she said.

MEC Cronjé said the cooperation between the provincial government and Zululand District Municipality is important to ensure sustainable use and the development of the airport.

“We need to unlock the economic development of this district and one way of doing that is through ensuring effective use of this airport. The R30 million will be used to renovate, among other things, the landing and navigation system, runway, fire and emergency facilities,” she said.

Dr Mkhize said it was exactly three months after a decision was made to invest R30 million into the refurbishment of certain aspects of the airport and this is an indication that the provincial government is serious about the infrastructure development.

“What fascinates me is to hear that the flights company appointed operates charter flights, shuttle services and scheduled services in various parts of Africa. We are hopeful that in future we will have flights from Ulundi to other parts of Africa,” he said.