The Winelands Airport which will service Cape Town will be operational by the end of 2027 or early 2028 which will compete for business against the Cape Town Airport. ACSA which owns the airports in South Africa and is another failing SOE stands for the Airport Company South Africa. We all thought this project would take years to implement and 2 years is very quick considering how much red tape they must have encountered.
There will be 4 runways and facilities to service 5 million passengers annually. NACO which is a Dutch Airport consultant firm has been advising the developers and from what it seems they are on track to compete for the international airline business.
The good news is this airport facility was an old air force base that was purchased in 1993 one year before the new government came into power so they have no involvement. This is as private as they come with local billionaire investors on board who are anti government. The government hates the idea they are not involved and financially not required so there will be no corruption and will be built on schedule. This will be phase 1 of 5 which will also see the primary runways extended to 3.5km in length.
Everyone knows the airports are poorly run in South Africa so much so they are always receiving government hand outs. Having this Winelands Airport as competition will highlight how badly these airports have been run and I expect most airlines will switch allegiance and abandon Cape Town International.
Thee is nothing worse for the tourist business than arriving and having to wait 3 or 4 hours to have your documents stamped and checked before being allowed entry into the country. Services has never been a strong point in SA and lets just say here s room for improvement when you compare how other airports who are 100 x busier manage to move millions on a daily basis.
This airport will be run by private businessman answering to share holders so thee will be no DEI hiring or BEE sweetening deals which is what makes every business less efficient and less profitable. I do believe the international airlines will jump at this opportunity to move away from the state owned Cape Town Airport. It will be interesting to compare the landing right fees because you know you are paying a premium at the Government controlled airport as there has been no competition.
SAFAIR which is the largest local airline is actually Ryan Air who have been vocal about how the local airports have been run with hundreds of local flights being delayed or cancelled each year. All that is required to turn this business on it's head is a few more of these privately owned airports dotted around major cities.
Privatization with the right people running thee SOE businesses is what South Africa desperately needs or at least allowing private businesses to challenge the SOE's head on which has not been allowed. The problem we all know is if any of the SOE's are privatized the it is only being handed over to government cronies so there will be very little difference in performance.