31-05-2017
Cape Town Air Access welcomes the recent approval of Cape Town International Airport’s (CTIA) runway realignment project’s Environmental Impact Assessment.
CTIA is Africa's third largest airport and processes over 10 million passengers annually. The realigned runway will enable higher flight frequencies and the Airbus A380 to land at the airport.
Since its inception in 2015 Cape Town Air Access has helped to facilitate nine new routes and facilitated ten route expansions for the Cape. This has significantly increased CTIA’s capacity with the airport experiencing a 28% increase in international traffic in the first four months of this year compared to 2016.
This increased air access made a significant impact on jobs and growth. Three thousand jobs are supported by each regularly scheduled long-haul flight, and for every 10% increase in passenger numbers the regional economy grows by 2%.
Currently The United Kingdom, Germany and United States of America are CTIA’s top destinations respectively, but Cape Town Air Access has secured a number of routes throughout Africa recently that will bolster Cape tourism, trade and investment on the continent.
“This is an important milestone in the runway realignment project, which will contribute to increasing CTIA’s capacity. CTIA has committed substantial investment into infrastructure, and they are a vital partner in our joint Air Access initiative. Through this initiative, we have added over 600 000 two-way seats into Cape Town, with a notable increase in air travel between our region and chosen strategic markets.
“In the Western Cape, we have prioritised tourism through our Project Khulisa growth strategy. It is our goal to add up to 100 000 additional jobs to the tourism sector. Improving air access is one of our foremost Project Khulisa initiatives,” said Western Cape Minister of Economic Opportunities Alan Winde.
“Cape Town Air Access is excited by the progress the runway realignment has made so far and look forward to the opportunities and growth the planned development will bring,” concluded Wesgro CEO Tim Harris.