CAA supports Comair’s plans for old Durban airport

The South African Civil Aviation Authority supports Comair’s call to keep the old DurbanInternationalAirport operative, says Commissioner, Capt. Colin Jordaan.

Speaking at the recent Aviation Africa Outlook 2010 conference in Cape Town, he said the CAA had made representations to the Standing Portfolio Committee on Transport in this regard. Consequently, a new working group had been constituted which would decide in the next couple of months what should be done with the airport.

The Government last year turned down a proposal from Comair to buy the old airport with a view of using it as an alternative commercial airport for kulula.com flights, similar to its operations at Lanseria in Gauteng. Comair's plans are based on the model of overseas low-cost carriers, such as Easy Jet and Ryan Air in the UK, using secondary, cheaper airports to keep their costs down.