Acsa announces R3,8bn capex plan

the largest airports authority in africa, airports company south africa (acsa), announced yesterday that it will invest r3,8-billion in the next five-year period in infrastructure development, following an investment of r2,9-billion over the previous five-year period.

presenting the company's financial results for the year ended march 31, ceo monhla hlahla explained that the capital expenditure would be used to increase capacity and efficiencies at all ten airports managed by acsa, including domestic airports in kimberley, bloemfontein and east london, which will host soccer world cup matches in the early stages of the 2010 tournament.

she emphasised that major plans include a multistorey parkade at cape town international airport, with in-house check-in counters, and an international passenger transfer facility in the johannesburg international airport (jia) terminal, which will be integrated with the gautrain rapid rail link, between jia, sandton and johannesburg, to be constructed by the gauteng provincial government.

infrastructure development plans also include the construction of the echo apron, in conjunction with the northern pier development, which will increase jia's capacity to accommodate new wide-body long-haul aircraft, such as the airbus a380 at connecting stands.

hlahla revealed that future plans for jia include facilities to improve efficiencies in aircraft movements, such as larger aprons and high-speed turn-off lanes, as well as upgrades to the international arrivals and departures terminals to create more capacity, together with an additional parkade and connecting bridges.

during the year under review, acsa completed projects to the value of r471-million, including the upgrade of the terminal at port elizabeth and new security gates and landside access roads at jia.

the single largest project undertaken by the company was the construction of the domestic terminal at jia, which was opened in february 2003, after two year of construction. this development has boosted jia's capacity to more than 16-million passengers a year.

the completion of these projects marked the conclusion of a five-year expansion and upgrading programme, started in 1998, to invest r3-billion in new or significantly upgraded airport infrastructure, intended to bring facilities at acsa airports into line with the world's best.

acsa reported that its revenue for the year increased to r1,86-billion, while operating profit rose to r902,3-million.

passenger traffic increased by 7%, to 11,9-million, and 212 935 air-traffic movements were recorded during the period.

aircraft landings declined slightly by 2%, while domestic and international landings increased by 6,4% and 2,3%, respectively, with regional landings shrinking by 2,1%.