The Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) is looking for opportunities to manage airports in Africa in line with its strategy to become less dependent on airport tariffs for its income and to build a global brand and reputation, says Acting MD, Bongani Maseko.

Speaking at a recent media briefing in Cape Town, Maseko said the business model in Africa had to be different to those in Brazil and India, where ACSA has invested in airport concessions. He said African airports often have difficulty in raising funding for concessions, but that there was scope for management contracts and transport planning.

ACSA already is involved in an airport rehabilitation project at Ndjili International Airport in Kinshasa, DRC. During the past year, an ACSA technical team visited the airport several times to develop an infrastructure rehabilitation programme, estimated at US$85m. The DRC government and the Development Bank of Southern Africa are at an advanced stage of negotiating the funding. ACSA says its role will be to compile a development framework and supervise the project.

In February, ACSA (in partnership with the Brazilian company Invepar) won a 20-year concession for the expansion, maintenance and operation of Guarulhos International Airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The consortium will own 51% of the Guarulhos concession, with Infraero, the Brazilian airports operator,
owning the remaining 49%.  ACSA is to invest up to R70m in Guarulhos by June next year and R420m over the next five years to expand and upgrade its infrastructure.

ACSA also has a 10% stake in a concession company that has a concession to manage Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, India. The first phase of a 45m terminal is due for completion next year.