GEORGE NEWS - Plans for expansion at the George Airport have been postponed. This comes after passenger numbers have reduced drastically as a result of the Covid-19 regulations and lockdowns over the past year.
In November 2019 the Airports Company of South Africa (Acsa) announced its intention to expand the George Airport, with construction due to start in March / April 2020.
After completion of the intended expansion, the airport would have had the capacity to handle 1,2 million passengers per year. The intention to build a new cargo facility, with associated access, was also announced. The estimated completion date for the cargo facility was December 2022.
However, Covid-19 left its mark on the functioning of airports and for a time the George Airport was closed. In the light of this, the question arose whether the intended expansion would still take place.
In response to George Herald's enquiry, Acsa said the company "has reviewed its current and future plans as it relates to Opex and Capex investment in response to the unprecedented impact of Covid-19 on the aviation and tourism sectors both locally and globally."
The company's capital programme, including plans for the George Airport, has been postponed to future years.
However, on Monday, Acsa spokesperson Adele Nkomo said each operation's infrastructure investment is based on the business case at a particular moment in time.
The George Airport building.
Passenger demand is still severely constrained and volumes are less than half of their previous levels. "Currently, our best estimate is that it will be three to five years before demand returns to pre-pandemic levels," she said.
"As the recovery gathers momentum over the coming few years, we will continue to review the outlook so that we can renew infrastructure investment as soon as this can be economically justified.
"Given that considerable planning and design has already taken place, we believe that Airports Company South Africa will be well-positioned to implement infrastructure projects comparatively quickly in the future."
Asked about flight activities at the George Airport in December, she said the airport had a total (arriving and departing) of 2 158 flights and 55 291 passengers. In December 2019, these figures were 2 980 and 97 724 respectively.
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