Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) is well on its way to a full recovery – with some of its airports even exceeding projections – following a solid festive season performance that saw passenger volumes climbing strongly towards the end of last year.

Acsa CEO Mpumi Mpofu highlighted at a media briefing on Thursday (February 1) that the organisation showed signs of overall robust recovery to pre-pandemic levels, placing it on a firm footing for future growth and an expected return to profitability.

She noted that, by year-end, Acsa had managed to establish a solid recovery position, with the total air passenger traffic through its network having increased significantly over the previous period, as well as recording a solid recovery to near pre-COVID-19 passenger throughput.

“Therefore, our primary consideration at this point remains to recover our pre-pandemic position and to rapidly diversify our revenue streams to mitigate against the risks that continue to exist in aviation,” said Mpofu.

Key figures

Using the financial year 2019/20 as a base for recovery, passenger numbers across the entire Acsa network of airports achieved recovery of 87% at the end of December 2023, with 17% year-on-year growth.

In December 2023, the organisation recorded 3.55 million passengers travelling through its airports, which exceeded its forecast of 3.43 million passengers. Regional passenger volumes totalled 73 492, while domestic passenger volumes accounted for 2.4 million. International passenger volumes rose to 1.02 million, breaching the one million mark for the first time since the pandemic.

Total airline movements showed a 93% recovery and a 10% year-on-year growth for December 2023 and January 2024. Total international passenger traffic was 30% of the total market. The total number of passengers was 1 092 248 with total international air traffic movements recorded at 9 610.

OR Tambo accounts for the lion’s share of all traffic across the Acsa network as illustrated in the 2019 to 2024 comparative graph. Of a total 1 249 309 travellers over the period, OR Tambo processed 922 595 in 2019/2020, 652 710 in 2022/23 and 745 511 in 2023/24 or 81% of all traffic across the Acsa network.

Total recovery is 113% for Cape Town International and 62% for King Shaka International Airport.

Domestic performance (in terms of passenger numbers) indicates the greatest recovery at smaller Acsa airports, with the highest recovery in Upington at 125%; and Bram Fischer (Bloemfontein) at 100%. OR Tambo was 91%. Domestic movement: Upington at 125%; Kimberley at 109%; CTIA at 104% and OR Tambo at 102%. One of the core drivers was tourism-related travel which translates into the figures to tourist airports.

In total, Acsa reported 27.2 million passengers travelling through its airports year-to-date in the current financial year, compared with 32.5 million for the same period in the 2019/20 financial year and 23.1 million for the 2022/23 financial year.

“While our recovery trajectory has been consistent, the significant increase in traffic through our network during the FY2023/24 period gives us cause to remain optimistic. Although capacity constraints and related airfare increases resulted in flat recovery in the domestic segment, the situation is now normalising as incumbent airlines such as FlySafair, Airlink, Lift, CemAir and South African Airways continue to increase supply to offset the deficit left by the closure of airlines including Comair, Kulula and Mango,” said Mpofu.

“In addition, in all three of our market segments – domestic, regional, and international – new routes and route expansions by both local and foreign airlines continue to support the recovery of passenger traffic.”

Aircraft movements

Acsa’s network is recovering at 88%, when using the financial year 2019/20 as a base for recovery, with 9% growth when compared year-on-year. A total of 345 277 aircraft movements were recorded year-to-date during the current financial year, compared with 390 306 during the 2019/20 financial year.

For December last year, Acsa recorded a 93% recovery, with a total of 38 834 aircraft movements, and a 94% recovery in January this year, with a total of 24 396 aircraft movements. This is compared with the 41 606 and 26 050 aircraft movements in December and January of 2019/20, respectively.