By Lee-Anne Butler

The Port Elizabeth Airport will have to cope with a massive 260% increase in air traffic during the Fifa World Cup, including international flights jetting in directly from the UK, Greece and Portugal.

An incredible 160 planes, carrying a total of 18 000 passengers, are scheduled to land in Port Elizabeth on the day before England takes on Slovenia in Nelson Mandela Bay on June 23.

This is compared to the usual maximum of 40 planes carrying up to 5 000 passengers on a normal day.

Port Elizabeth Airport’s manager, Azad Cassim, said up to 144 000 passengers were expected to use the airport during the World Cup from June 11 to July 11.

In a bid to cope with the overwhelming influx of tourists, the airport has rented a temporary terminal from Portugal, is building an additional luggage carousel, has more than doubled its staff complement and will be working 24 hours a day from June 1 to July 16.

Additional security staff have also been hired, and the police presence at the airport will increase from 60 to 150.

Cassim said the airport would have the capacity to process 1050 passengers an hour.

The airport had been an official ad hoc international port of entry since 1994 and had accommodated numerous flights from abroad since then.

“On expected peak days, especially the days before popular matches like the England and Slovenia match on June 23 and the Portugal and Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) match on June 15 there could be as many as 18000 passengers arriving at the airport.

“The slot allocation process is still open and the numbers may change closer to the World Cup, depending on demand.”

Cassim said the airport normally received aircraft such as Boeing 737s or 800s, carrying about 160 passengers.

“We are also expecting to receive larger aircraft as well such the Airbus 340, which can accommodate up to 230 passengers.

"There will also be direct flights from the United Kingdom, Greece and Portugal as well as some African states.”

Additional space for parking aircraft had also been created by using space at the Defence Force and SAA cargo facility.

Information agents were being trained in various languages and they would be assisting with translation services for foreign passengers.

Cassim said the decision had been made to erect a temporary terminal as the influx of passengers would only last for just more than a month and it would not be cost effective to construct a permanent terminal which would become a white elephant.

The terminal, made from aluminium and iron, will be returned to Portugal when the demand is over.

The airport has made provision for a huge increase of bus movement during the World Cup and agreements with the Southern Africa Tourism Association and Southern Africa Bus Operators’ Association are due to be finalised.

“There will be two luggage carousels in the existing terminal as well as one in the temporary terminal. These carousels will be multi-loaded from different flights.

"We do not expect a drastic increase in baggage as most passengers will be day trippers.”

Security points will also be increased from the current two to seven, with each able to process 250 passengers an hour.

Additional seating had also been provided by using non-operational space.

He said 2D boarding card systems had been procured, enabling boarding passes to be validated electronically instead of manually.

Signage would be improved and banners erected of historical aspects of the city.

Cassim said the adjacent new airport Road Lodge would be operational before the end of May.

It would have 60 rooms which could sleep three people and 30 rooms which can sleep two people.

He said the lodge was also an Acsa project.

Source: The Herald