Airport reaches capacity

ELLANIE SMIT While the arrival of smorgasbord of international airlines has been hailed as good for the economy, the Namibian Airports Company (NAC) flagship airport, Hosea Kutako International, is congested and overburdened.Social media have been abuzz with complaints. Some people posted photos and videos about the general congestion and long queues at the airport, while tour operators have expressed concern over the hours their clients spent waiting at the airport.The grievances have escalated since the recent entry of new airlines, which resulted in a significant increase of passengers. During the month of October the number grew to 90 277, from 69 086 in October last year. The airport recently welcomed international carriers like Condor Airlines, Qatar Airways, Dutch carrier KLM and Ethiopian Airways, while Dubai-based Emirates, Kenyan Airways and Turkish Airlines are also planning to fly the Namibian route.NAC spokesperson Dan Kamati says the terminal building at Hosea Kutako is designed to cater for 400 passengers per hour and it has surpassed its capacity.He says the company has introduced slot allocations for arrivals and departures in order to maximise usage of the current infrastructure.However, tour operators have complained about long queues at the airport and say it takes several hours for their clients to move through Customs to get a rental vehicle.Kamati says people should keep in mind that higher passenger numbers inevitably increase the waiting time.He says Hosea Kutako is a very small airport and therefore the process in Namibia is not that long compared to the queues experienced at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg and other, much bigger international airports.Asked whether cleaning and catering companies are experiencing any problems with providing services, Kamati says the in-flight catering companies and cleaning services had to increase their personnel on the ground to meet the demand.“This is beneficial to the country as a result of new employment opportunities generated.”He says NAC is not aware of any difficulties experienced with the provision of services due to increased flights.The CEO of NAC, Tamer El-Kallawi, admits that the airport is under pressure to comply with international requirements and maintain service levels.On the company’s website El-Kallawi says that is why NAC had submitted a request to the government for the expansion of the airport.The tender is still tied up in legal action.Initial government plans to push ahead with the construction of a new airport terminal were suspended following an uproar over the costs, which had been pegged at N$7 billion at the time, amid allegations of tender irregularities in the awarding process.Government has filed a notice of appeal with the Supreme Court regarding the cancellation of the tender.The appeal followed September''s High Court judgment, which set aside an instruction by the works ministry to the NAC to discontinue all activities relating to the upgrading and expansion of the airport.El-Kallawi further says that the aircraft apron and passenger terminal are often congested.According to him the limited space in the terminal limits the level of service the NAC can offer passengers and airlines.“More specifically on departure, there are regularly long queues at check-in, immigration and security control, due to the limited space available for check-in desks, immigration desks and screening points.”He says this is particularly severe when there is more than one flight checking in at the same time.El-Kallawi adds that limited space in the luggage collection area does not permit the installation of an adequate number of conveyor belts.Limited space in the passenger terminal does not allow the terminal operator and the airlines to offer some of the services expected from airports.NAC is aiming to increase its passenger traffic and according to El-Kallawi the capacity of the airport is inadequate for processing the envisaged number of airlines and passengers.

Airport reaches capacity

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-15

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Airport reaches capacity

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-15

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