Cape Town International Airport appears to be becoming increasingly popular as an international travel hub‚ with international arrivals growing by 20.4% and international departures up 22.5% in the third quarter compared to the same three months last year.
The latest Aviation Barometer released by Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) also shows that of its nine airports‚ Cape Town and Durban’s King Shaka International Airport also witnessed the highest growth in terms of passengers in general in the third quarter‚ with increases of 6.6.% and 7.9% respectively.
The passenger figures for King Shaka International Airport were underpinned by an 8.7% rise in domestic arrivals and an 8.3% increase in departures‚ more than offsetting a decline of 3% in international passengers.
ACSA’s nine airports handled more than 2.5 million arriving and departing passengers in the third quarter‚ a 5% increase on the comparable period in 2016.
Johannesburg’s O R Tambo International Airport‚ operating off a higher base of more than 20 million passengers a year‚ saw total passenger numbers rise by 2.9%‚ an increase of 154. 445 passengers
Among regional airports‚ George Airport continued to experience strong growth‚ with total passenger numbers rising by 8.5%.
The domestic air travel category recovered somewhat after a decline in the second quarter‚ with arrivals up by 4.6% and departures rising by 4.9%.
The Aviation Barometer is published quarterly by ACSA to provide an indication of current air travel trends in South Africa. The Barometer is based on the count of passengers using the network of nine airports owned and managed by the company in South Africa. These figures compare arrivals and departures in the latest quarter with the same quarter in the previous year.
- TimesLIVE
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