George Airport on the Garden route was temporarily upgraded to accommodate an Airbus jet owned by a “private individual from the Middle East” taking his family on a private safari.
The businessman had put in a special request to allow his A310-300 aircraft to land there‚ instead of Cape Town International Airport‚ at the end of last week.
The family travels to South Africa every year for a holiday at a private game reserve in the Great Karoo.
The airport received exemption from the South Africa Civil Aviation Authority (SACCA) to upgrade from a CAT 7 aerodrome to a CAT 8 aerodrome – which requires additional fire and rescue staff and vehicles.
Airport Manager Brenda Voster said: "It is not a permanent upgrade‚ it is an upgrade per their request as it is a larger aircraft.
"What that actually means‚ at a CAT 8 you need extra fire fighters and you need to use an extra fire tender that needs to be on stand-by. Normally we operate with two fire tenders and one as a back-up."
This type of aircraft can be configured to carry around 200 or more passengers commercially. But the private aircraft that landed at George was carrying just 24 passengers with five crew members‚ hinting that it may have been configured to convey them in comfort.
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