Domestic air travel recovers somewhat - ACSA

Cape Town - South Africa's domestic air travel sector recovered somewhat after a decline in the second quarter, with arrivals up by 4.6% and departures rising by 4.9%.

This is according to the latest Aviation Barometer published by Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) to provide an indication of current air travel trends in the country. The barometer is based on the number of passengers using the network of nine airports owned and managed by the company in South Africa.

It compares arrivals and departures in the latest quarter with the same quarter in the previous year.

ACSA’s nine airports handled more than 2.5 million arriving and departing passengers in the third quarter, a 5% increase on the comparable period in 2016.

The strongest performers were King Shaka International Airport and Cape Town International Airport, with increases of 7.9% and 6.6% respectively.

The passenger figures for King Shaka International Airport were underpinned by an 8.7% rise in domestic arrivals and an 8.3% increase in departures, more than offsetting a decline of 3% in international passengers.

Cape Town International continued to enjoy strong growth in international arrivals, up by 20.4%, and international departures, up by 22.5%.

Among regional airports, George Airport continued to experience strong growth, with total passenger numbers rising by 8.5%.

OR Tambo International Airport, operating off a higher base of more than 20 million passengers a year, saw total passenger numbers rise by 2.9%, an increase of 154 445 passengers.

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