Durban airport put up for sale

Durban - The Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) would like to dispose of Durban International Airport as soon possible after its decommissioning in May, when operations will move to a new airport north of the coastal city.

"We don't have a deadline by which we will sell the airport, but we'd like to do it as soon as possible," said Terence Melomoney, general manager of the airport.

From May 1, Durban will be served by the new King Shaka International Airport at La Mercy, built at a cost of R7bn.

Melomoney said the sale of the old site was dependent not only on Acsa, but on the national and provincial governments. Both Acsa and the government have previously stated they will not sell the old Durban airport to anyone who is going to operate it as an airport, as that would provide competition to the new airport.

This setback could delay the process of recouping government money invested in the new airport.

However, Melomoney did admit that a quick sale of the property, next to fuel refineries on the western side of the city, would boost Acsa's balance sheet significantly.

While he would not put a price tag on the property, previous estimates have been around the R3bn mark.

Speaking to Fin24.com earlier and explaining why a new airport was needed, King Shaka assistant manager Bongiwe Pityi said the new airport will have a lifespan of 50 years.

"Because the old airport is located between a highway and a floodline, there was no possibility of extending the runway to accommodate larger aircraft," said Pityi.

This meant the airport could have a maximum capacity of 7 million passengers a year and was left with only five years of operation.

The old airport runway is less than 2.4km long - insufficient to accommodate new-generation aircraft like the Airbus A380.

King Shaka's runway spans 3.7km and has been built to carry seven million passengers initially.

"Additional extensions will eventually ramp up capacity to 45 million," said Pityi.

- Fin24.com