OR TAMBO International Airport is working on becoming more efficient with a number of new initiatives being implemented to accommodate the rapid increase of passenger numbers.
Chris Hlekane, gm Ortia, says in 2007 the airport recorded 19,3m passengers, despite the 17m forecast by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL). He says TRL forecasts 23m passengers per annum in 2010, but Acsa suspects that this could be closer to 25m. Currently Ortia has the capacity to accommodate 18m passengers per annum, but once all construction is complete, it will have capacity for 25m.
Hlekane says the upgrade of International Departures is 90% complete, expected to be completed by mid 2008. The multi-storey parkade he says, is 46% complete and is scheduled to be completed in full by December. Hlekane says the new central terminal building is more than half way done and is expected to be operational by the end of next year.
Millions are also being invested into the airport to introduce new technology to make the airport operations more efficient. These include a parking bay detection system, a new Sorter Allocation Computer and Baggage Reconciliation System for sorting baggage as well as RFID technology.
Hlekane says that Ortia is also working at reducing the amount of baggage delays and mishandling, but that the situation has already improved significantly. “Anecdotal evidence from the airlines indicates a dramatic drop in incidents since March 2008,” he says.
