The Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) network has, for the first 10 months of the year ending October 31, recorded an overall recovery of 70% of pre-COVID numbers – 72% coming from domestic travel and 66% international travel.

This was highlighted by Acsa CEO, Mpumi Mpofu, who said the airports company was ready for the influx of passengers across its airport network, and started the implementation of its plans a couple of months ago.

“It took months of planning, but we finalised our Integrated Peak Season Plan and implemented it at the end October. Overall, we are pleased with what has been an initially difficult and slow response to robust recovery in passenger movements and air traffic volumes during this year,” she said.

She noted that, following a challenging two years, Acsa expected to see a recovery in passenger volumes and movements to near pre-pandemic levels during this year’s peak season.

The global picture

Data released recently by the Airports Council International (ACI) show global air travel is expected to fully recover from COVID-19-induced losses in 2024. More specifically, according to ACI data, demand for air travel continues to be strong despite heightened macro-economic risks, with forecasts seeing a continued rise in the second half of 2022.

ACI attributes the positive performance to fewer health and travel restrictions in many European and African countries and in the Americas, leaving room for renewed industry optimism.

Global domestic passenger traffic, meanwhile, is expected to reach 2019 levels in late 2023 with full-year 2023 traffic on a par with the 2019 level. Global international passenger traffic will require another year to recover fully, reaching 2019 levels in the second half of 2024.

Ready for the busiest days

According to Mpofu, Acsa’s busiest days are expected to be December 15 and January 6 for departures and arrivals at its key hubs – OR Tambo International Airport, Cape Town International Airport and King Shaka International Airport.

“The Integrated Peak Season Plan will ensure that the airports are adequately resourced, positioned and capacitated to handle the huge volumes of passengers. The plan involves various stakeholders, among them Acsa, the respective airports, the police services, SARS, and various state entities that have each contributed an operational deployment plan for the peak season,” she said.

“Through this plan, every stakeholder is aware of what to expect and what is expected of them in terms of resource planning for our busiest time.”

 A main focus area of the plan is the availability of key services and infrastructure across the airports to ensure that they operate reliably and efficiently. This includes lifts, escalators, travelators, and trolleys – all the equipment needed to facilitate the seamless movement of passengers.

Mpofu commented: “In this area, Acsa has exceeded its availability targets. In addition, we’ve introduced several technology solutions, such as e-gates, to streamline passenger processing and shorten waiting lines.

“We have focused on upgrading and expanding our parking infrastructure, with equipment which had reached end of life, and are currently replacing it with brand-new parking payment machines, to address areas of congestion and to provide a more efficient and user-friendly parking procedure at our airports.”

Working hard to increase resources

Mpofu emphasised that Acsa had been hard at work to increase its human resources and had reopened more areas, such as lounges and parkades.

“We’ve also introduced technology solutions and general improvements across our airports to be able to provide excellent service during this holiday season,” she said.

Mpofu further provided assurance that jet fuel supply challenges were a thing of the past, after various factors had resulted in supply challenges, specifically at OR Tambo and Cape Town International Airports.

Stock levels at these airports dropped to alarmingly low levels at times during the year, as the supply chain was hit by flooding in KwaZulu Natal and a shipment was delayed by high seas enroute to Cape Town.

“We are happy to announce that fuel stock levels have stabilised and that all our airports have sufficient stock to comfortably meet current peak season demand. We do not foresee any further problems with the availability of jet fuel,” she said.