Cape Town International Airport’s long-awaited upgrades are set to get under way in 2026, with an expected completion date of 2029.
Speaking at the recent arrival of the first Norse Atlantic Airways flight in Cape Town, Acsa Regional GM, Mark Maclean, said Cape Town International Airport was growing well, recording a 15%-plus increase in international passengers over 2019.
He said the airline was arriving at an exciting time when growth and investment were earmarked for the airport.
The upgrades form part of Acsa’s R21,7 billion infrastructure fund, announced earlier this year, which will also fund airport overhauls at OR Tambo, Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport in Gqeberha and King Phalo Airport in East London.
“Acsa has a massive investment programme for the next five years and we require a significant portion of that. So we will be building a new re-aligned runway, which is a big project, revamping and extending the domestic terminal and we will also be building additional contact stands in international and domestic and expanding the international terminal footprint as well,” said Maclean.
This is over and above other refurbishments that will be taking place at the same time.
Maclean said Acsa was preparing to go to tender for consultants, and would then look for contractors.
“We are hoping most of those projects will have a spade in the ground by 2026.” He said most of the projects had a three-year turnaround, so completion is expected in 2029.
In the meantime, he said, the airport was also upgrading security and self-service elements.
“We are looking for full-body scanners at security points, we are looking at expanding our self-service programme with additional self-service boarding, self-service immigration will expand, and a lot of other technological improvements will come as well.”
The planned upgrades were originally due to commence in 2020. Tipped to cost R7 billion then, those plans also included a runway expansion to allow for larger aircraft like the Airbus A380n, and expansion of the terminals. They were delayed as a result of COVID-19 and the subsequent recovery periods.
The airport’s last, large-scale upgrade was undertaken in the run-up to the 2010 World Cup, when a new R1,6 billion central terminal was built.
