CAPE Town International Airport will get a second runaway in the next 10 years, or perhaps even earlier, depending on passenger growth rates, says George Uriesi, the airport’s general manager.

He said the second runway was part of the airport’s master plan and would become necessary once the airport had received 15m passengers a year, which was forecast to happen between 2016 and 2018. “However, we might have to look at this even earlier,” he said. CTIA has been experiencing double-digit growth during the past four years, which has seen it handle a record 8,3m passengers and 105 000 aircraft movements in 2007, a 15% increase on 2006. CTIA currently daily handles 288 flights, 22 700 passengers plus 40 000 visitors, 18 000 vehicles and provides 20 000 jobs directly and indirectly.

Uriesi  welcomed the addition of direct flights by Delta Air Lines. “Cape Town is becoming an all-year-round destination and we hope the airlines that fly here seasonally (like Virgin Atlantic and Lufthansa) will also offer all-year-round flights in due course.” CTIA, he added, was already the second busiest airport in South Africa after Ortia and Africa’s third busiest airport.