Airport opens but no planes SWAZILAND’S King Mswati
III has dedicated the
country’s new R3bn
airport and named it the King
Mswati III International Airport.
“We challenge all existing
and potential export-oriented
companies to take advantage
of this infrastructure,” the king
said.
The controversial project
will sit idle for the time being.
No air carrier wants to use it,
citing low passenger numbers
to Swaziland, absence of
connecting flights to other
destinations and its location,
a 20- to 35-minute flight
from three larger SA airports,
including OR Tambo.
Swaziland Airlink, the only
airline that services Swaziland,
flies only to OR Tambo,
carrying 70 000 passengers
annually (the new airport will
require at least 300 000
passengers annually to break
even). In a survey provided to
TNW, Swaziland Airlink said
it would lose passengers if
forced to relocate from the
airport in Matsapha because
it would be quicker for them
to drive to Gauteng than to
the new airport in the eastern
lowveld, with early check-in, the
flight, customs at OR Tambo
and then ground transportation
to their destinations.
“We will have to fly out of
the new airport if they shut
down Matsapha and move
customs there,” a source with
Swaziland Airlink told TNW.
To address the absence of
connecting flights, the Director
of Aviation said the country
would create its own airline.
King Mswati said a new town
would be built to absorb the
business of all the foreign
investors who would be lured
to the country through the
King Mswati III International
Airport.
