EAST LONDON AIRPORT
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Ta k i n g to the
Just over a year ago East London Airport opened an upgraded terminal capable of handling over a million passengers a year. Airport manager Michael Kernekamp talks to South Africa Magazine. By Ian Armitage
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East London Airport FEATURE
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ast November East London Airport officially opened an upgraded terminal capable of handling over a million passengers a year. It has more space for restaurants and parking. Government and local business have hailed the development as an economic boon for the region. “The development is a milestone and central to the city and province’s economy,” says Airport Manager Michael Kernekamp. Work was completed in April 2010, even though it did not form part of South Africa’s 2010 Fifa World Cup plans. “There have been major additions to the airport building,” Kernekamp says. “The space had been increased to 6,800m², and there are now 15 check-in points, a bigger departure lounge, and increased space for restaurants and parking.” He said that more than R100 million had been budgeted for the project. “Local businesses have
welcomed it. It attracts investors and is great for businesses and the economy. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. “The expansion meets passenger demands - the capacity of East London Airport stood at around 700,000 passengers a year before the upgrade, and we were bursting at the seams. Now we can handle over a million. “It all comes down to the vision of the Airports Company of South Africa and the government.” Kernekamp says projected figures suggest it will reach capacity in 2017. His goal is to continue to improve the airport. “East London Airport was established in 1993 as part of the Airports Company South Africa along with four international airports - Cape Town, Durban, Pilanesberg and Johannesburg - and five domestic airports Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth, Kimberley, Upington and www.southafricamag.com
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East London Airport FEATURE
George,” he says. “The recent terminal upgrade project has been superb, and I’m very proud to have taken part, but that isn’t the end. We continue to focus on customer satisfaction and our ‘endto-end’ process. From arriving, parking, queuing time at check-in and time before boarding, to arriving, collecting baggage, going through passport control and leaving the airport are all top priorities for us. We have created a worldclass airport.” This strategy of continual improvement has led to the company joining the ACI (Airport Council International), whose research department produces data that helps airports benchmark their operational statistics to industry standards, Kernekamp says. In addition, a quality management system and an airport service quality system have been introduced. “We endeavour to provide a worldclass service, clean and suitable facilities,” he says. “We look at global practices, making technology systems up-to-date, ensuring resources are geared towards customer service. We of course have key performance indicators. The new terminal has been a catalyst for that.” The company’s future developments and capital investments include a runway improvement programme,
which will run over a three year period at a cost of R189 million and is set to commence soon. “We have appointed the consultants to do the work and have got to the point where we have done the design and gone out to tender. We are evaluating the tenders now. If all goes well we will be appointing the preferred contractor by December at the latest,” Kernekamp says. “Hopefully we can get the site established before the builders break in December and then we should be commencing, if all goes well, with that runway refurbishment on 9 January 2012. That should be a 15-18 month project.” He adds: “Alongside this, we believe in investing in our people. We believe in people development that includes appointing, improving and retaining the right people. “We value passion, results, integrity, diversity and excellence.” East London Airport is projecting passenger growth between five and six percent growth over the next 12 months. “This year passenger numbers are up two percent compared to last,” Kernekamp says. “We are sitting nine percent below budget. The global turmoil has contributed to that, certainly.
We value passion, results, integrity, diversity and excellence
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www.adb-air.com • Tel. +27 (0) 11 602 8983 • Fax +27 (0) 11 602 8988 Fortunately, most travellers that use our airport are business passengers. So, we haven’t had the growth we budgeted for, but the upside is that we are actually better off than some of our sister airports that have a huge number of leisure passengers. They’ve taken a knock. The advantage of having a situation where the passenger profile is 80 percent business travel has made our business more sustainable – because business must continue. People cut back on the leisure aspect but they don’t really cut back too much on business travel. We haven’t felt the negative effects of the recession in the same way as other airports. “That said it hasn’t been good in terms of the passenger growth that we hoped for. Our designed capacity is 1.2 million per annum. We are sitting at 720,000 at the moment. We have plenty of capacity moving forward based on whatever the future demand is.” END
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