George Airport passenger update

GEORGE NEWS - Wesgro’s Air Route Network team says George Airport’s passenger recovery dropped to 65% in December when compared to the same period in 2019.

“This can be attributed to constrained capacity, with airlines not able to ramp up frequencies in December and higher airfares due to the supply shortage in flights. Despite the drop in recovery, the airport still recorded over 63 000 two-way passengers for December,” the team states.

For the full year, George Airport’s two-way passenger recovery stood at 89%, compared to 2019, with 741 000 two-way passengers recorded.

See below for a summary of the performance at George Airport.

Route network update

The Western Cape enjoyed a bumper festive season after a successful year for aviation recovery in the province. Building on the positive recovery from last year, the province can look forward to aviation growth in 2023.

The below snapshots provide more detail:

The domestic passenger recovery at Cape Town International Airport remained stable through the festive season. Despite a slight recovery drop month-on-month to 72% in December, compared to the same period in 2019, the terminal recorded a year-high of 570 000 two-way passengers for the month.

For the full year (Jan – Dec 2022), the domestic terminal processed 5.96 million two-way passengers, which equates to a recovery of 71% when compared to 2019.

Passenger performance at the international terminal saw a record recovery of 96% in December, compared to December 2019, with 270 000 two-way passengers passing through the terminal.

For the full year, the international terminal saw a recovery of 73% when compared to the same period in 2019, with over 1.8 million two-way passengers moving through the terminal.

See the tables below for a month-by-month breakdown of the two-way passenger recovery for 2022.

Air Cargo Update

Two-way air cargo volumes continue to grow, with almost 5 000 metric tonnes traded for the month of October. After a big recovery spike of 110% in September, mainly due to exports of strawberries, blueberries and fresh lamb meat, the recovery figure has fallen back to 74% in October.

Year-to-Date (Jan – Oct 2022), the Western Cape’s total two-way air cargo volumes equalled 42 000 metric tonnes, representing an 82% recovery compared to the same period in 2019.

Below is a summary of the air cargo performance for the Western Cape.