Airports Company South Africa leads airport infrastructure in Africa
The Minister of Transport, Ms Dipuo Peters, congratulates the Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) for continuing to grow its aeronautical income derived from regulated tariffs as well as for its non-aeronautical revenue.
“The massive expansion and upgrade of infrastructure completed in mid-2010 has provided ACSA with a network of airports that is the envy of the international airports community,” Minister Peters said.
ACSA’s nine airports are registered on the largest worldwide Airport Service Quality (ASQ) programme, under the auspices of Airports Council International, which represents 98 percent of the world’s airports. “These airports are major generators of direct and indirect employment and business opportunities, providing the core of development nodes in South Africa,” reflected Minister Peters.
ACSA airports have once again been ranked as some of the best in Africa in the annual Airports Council International's (ACI) 2015 (ASQ) Awards.
Upington Airport achieved top honours with 1st place in the Best Airport by Region – Africa (under 2 million passengers per year) category. Cape Town International Airport and King Shaka International Airport tied for 2ndplace in the category, Best Airport by Region – Africa for those airports handling over 2 million passengers per year. OR Tambo International Airport was ranked third.
Minister Peters affirms that the concept of the Aerotropolis, whereby a range of manufacturing, logistics and commercial facilities, complemented by hotels, retail outlets, entertainment complexes and offices are clustered around an airport is likely to further accelerate the core role of our airports, particularly for the King Shaka International Airport and its associated Dube Trade Port and the drive for an Aerotropolis surrounding O.R. Tambo International, which is directed by Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality.
“It is still embedded in the plans of ACSA to revamp the International Terminals of the three International Airports, OR Tambo, King Shaka and the Cape Town International Airport, including the realignment of the Cape Town runaway and its domestic arrival terminal.
There are also plans to expand parking at both the OR Tambo and the Cape Town International Airport,” confirmed Minister Peters.
The Minister pointed out that as a result of ACSA’s sustainable growth in cargo air transportation, the OR Tambo Airport will also pride itself with an additional cargo terminal.
To gain maximum benefit from these exceptional airports, ACSA continues to focus on service quality, which includes the improvement of passenger service experience through the introduction of the E-gate technology, which will replace the current system where passengers pass through an official who books them in before boarding.
The inaugural launch of the Aviation Barometer, a quarterly indicator of air traffic movements through ACSA’s nine airports provides a snapshot of the state of air traffic relating to passengers and the trends which underpin aeronautical data.
“It is expected that over time the barometer will provide a useful insight into the status of the aviation industry domestically and could serve as a partial indicator of the performance of the country's tourism sector through the tracking of international and regional arrivals,” Minister Peters said.
Adding on South Africa’s airports infrastructure, in February 2016, the Eastern Cape Provincial government appointed ACSA to deliver management services at the Mthatha airport and the City of Tshwane, appointed ACSA to assist with the compilation of an airport security manual.
“In line with the President's Nine-Point Plan,esp with regard to The matter of Addressing the Energy Challenge,ACSA as a SOC produced it's own plan for energy security, ACSA introduced the usage of solar energy involving extracting power from the sun which is dichotomised into Solar Photovoltaic (PV) and Concentrated Solar Power (CSP).
To this extent, the roll-out was completed at the George, Kimberley and the Upington airports,” Minister Peters affirmed.
Trials are underway at O.R. Tambo International Airport for self-bag-drop, which allows passengers to self-check in their luggage. Simultaneously, ACSA is working on a new SMART security system which aims to create a conducive environment for passengers to proceed through security with minimal inconvenience.
The SMART security system allows for electronic security facilitation, where passengers put their hand luggage onto a conveyer belt, then move through X-Ray body scanners without having to interact with security personnel.
ACSA’s Strategy 2025 reaffirms its vision statement of being “the most sought after partner in the world for the provision of sustainable airport management solutions by 2025.
ACSA formed part of a consortium that took over the expansion and management of Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, India. In addition, ACSA was successful in a bid to manage the development, maintenance and operations of Guarulhos International Airport in São Paulo, Brazil, the busiest international airport in Latin America in partnership with the Brazilian company, Invepar.
In October 2015 a sister airport agreement was established between ACSA and Flughfen München GMBH (Munich Airport). The agreement speaks to areas of cooperation on matters including customer care and quality management process, airport consulting, commercial activities, information technology, IT security, aviation infrastructure development, real estate development, human resource development and training, airport security, digitisation and multimedia, green airports and infrastructure asset management asset.
In February 2016, the contract was concluded with the Ghana Airport Company Limited for technical design reviews and project management at the Kotaka International Airport.
ACSA continues to play an active role in training of government aviation schools in firefighting and improvement of security measures in Namibia and Swaziland and discussions intended to culminate in signing of Cooperation Agreements and MOUs are advanced with Gabon, South Sudan, Benin, Cameroon, Kenya and Tanzania.
ACSA continues to seek opportunities in Africa and the world at large. Such undertakings will allow ACSA to leverage on the pool of skills and experience that it has amassed over the years to grow its business and to increase its shareholder value.
Enquiries:
Ishmael Mnisi
Cell: 072 566 0827
