Related Articles
Top Stories
May 23 2012 09:47
Western investors must realise SA does not need their money as it can now turn to fellow Brics members for funding, says ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe.
May 23 2012 08:10
Several parties, including government, have launched a Constitutional Court appeal against an interdict temporarily halting the e-toll project, Outa says.
May 23 2012 18:03
Facebook and banks are being sued by Facebook's shareholders, who claimed the defendants hid Facebook's weakened growth forecasts ahead of its initial public offering.
Johannesburg - Next year's World Cup soccer tournament is just around the corner and there is serious concern about the ability of the smaller South Africa airports to handle large numbers of visitors.
According to Ian Cruickshank, South African Airways (SAA) project manager for 2010, airports such as those at Pilanesberg and Bloemfontein lack aircraft-handling equipment. What is more, there is almost no equipment at the Polokwane airport either.
Bloemfontein and Polokwane are host cities at which matches will be played. Pilanesberg, in turn, is expected to attract many tourists.
The required equipment includes baggage trolleys and lifts to get passengers' luggage out of the aircraft.
There is also concern about the ability of these airports and other smaller ones to provide aircraft with fuel.
Bongani Maseko, operations manager of the Airports Company of South Africa (Acsa), acknowledges that the airports' infrastructure will be under great pressure in 2010.
In June and July next year 450 000 foreign visitors are expected to arrive in South Africa. Passenger volumes are likely to double during this period.
"On some days up to 20 000 people will have to move through OR Tambo," Maseko predicts.
Acsa spokesperson Solomon Makgale points out that it is airlines' own responsibility to provide equipment at airports.
"SAA has its own company, Swissport, that is in charge of its handling facilities at airports. The [other] airlines will have to negotiate with this company to find solutions to challenges."
Apart from Swissport there are two other companies providing these services - BidAir Services and Menzies Aviation.
Makgale made the point that the Polokwane airport does not belong to Acsa.
And, according to Maseko, Acsa is not responsible for fuel. He says Acsa merely provides storage facilities for fuel. "But Acsa will work together with Transnet and the refineries supplying the fuel to ensure that there are no fuel shortages next year."
Acsa is already enlarging its fuel-storage capacity at its airports.
Airlines can possibly sidestep fuel shortages at smaller airports by landing at larger airports to fuel.
Cruickshank reports that SAA will hire 20 additional aircraft from Match Event Services for the duration of the tournament.
Match is the company appointed by soccer's world controlling body, Fifa, to manage the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament on its behalf.
As Fifa's agent, Match is in control of accommodation, transport and tickets for the tournament's matches. It is reported to be supplying not only the additional aircraft, but also the crews.
It is still uncertain what SAA will have to pay to hire these aircraft. The details of the agreement should be finalised by September 30.
Cruickshank reckons industrial action such as strikes could present a challenge for air transport during the tournament.
But SAA spokesperson Robyn Chalmers says the airline has a contingency plan for a strike.
Delia Fischer, Fifa's spokesperson in South Africa, informed Sake24 that transport and accommodation were the two most important matters still requiring finalisation before the start of the tournament.
- Sake24.com
For more business news in Afrikaans, go to Sake24.com.