OR Tambo International Airport has left many travellers frustrated, with some facilities not working and some services curtailed as the flagship airport of Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) struggles to recover from the collapse in revenue during Covid. But investment in upgrading facilities is under way.
Complaints on social media have highlighted the “grimy” and “neglected” state of OR Tambo.
Among the issues are non-functioning travelators, parking machines that accept only cash, and almost as many shops closed as open in the duty-free zone.
Some restaurants that closed during the Covid lockdown never reopened, and so for those arriving or departing after 8pm there is little to eat or drink on offer.
Acsa recently reported a loss of R1bn for the year to end March from a loss of R2.6bn the year before — its worst ever performance as air travel ground to a halt at the peak of the pandemic.
Revenue for the 2021/22 financial year was up by 81% to R3.9bn.
But Acsa CEO Mpumi Mpofu said after the results were released last month that it came at a cost as the company had lost 900 of about 2,500 staff after severance packages had to be offered during lockdown as a means to survive.
Some of the remaining staff, who declined to be named, told Business Times that employees now had to do the work that previously had been handled by three to four people.
Contracts with some service providers expired, while some of the same contractors closed permanently as Covid left a trail of destruction among smaller companies. With that, the maintenance they were responsible for at the airport also ceased.
Acsa spokesperson Samukelo Khambule said this week that a long and difficult recovery period at OR Tambo was under way, but it was already showing progress.
A revised governance framework and operating and capability model and a new organisational structure have been developed.
These will hopefully result in some of the problem areas being fully operational and upgraded by December 1 this year — in time for the festive season.
Khambule acknowledges that OR Tambo in particular is a year behind with the implementation of system upgrades such as parking technology “due to internal prioritisation of spending”.
At the same time passenger numbers are lagging by 30% compared to pre-Covid figures.
However, new flights such as those of Air Belgium to and from Johannesburg and Cape Town and of Delta Air Lines connecting Johannesburg and Cape Town with Atlanta should improve total passenger revenue. According to Khambule, improvements at OR Tambo now under way include:
- The replacement of most credit card payment devices and a mobile application for easier payments.
- A complete digitisation road map is being developed which will ensure a seamless parking system, including licence plate recognition.
- The replacement of all lighting — especially as passengers were complaining about semi-darkness in areas such as those for baggage reclaim, e-hailing services, security checkpoints and the multistorey Parkade 1.
- Of the 95 escalators/travelators in the airport, 60 have been returned to service and are operational. They were mothballed during lockdown and had to be brought back to service in a phased way. Of the 102 elevators, 65 have been taken out of mothballs and the remaining 37 are due for activation by December 1.
- Restaurants and shops are gradually returning to normal pre-Covid operations and, in preparation for the December festive season and other peak times, most stores will start to operate one hour before the first flight of the day and remain open 30 minutes after the last flight.
- Window cleaning is in progress and in the past two months “significant progress” was made with new service level agreements. Deep cleaning of all areas is conducted weekly.
“Acsa undertook a full review of its group strategy and business model to manage the impact of the pandemic, define its path to recovery and secure value creation in the short, medium and long term. This, in turn, led to the development of a supplementary ‘recover and sustain’ strategy supported by a revised financial plan.
Acsa undertook a full review of its group strategy and business model to manage the impact of the pandemic, define its path to recovery and secure value creation in the short, medium and long term
“Our strategic pillars, which define our core focus on running airports, developing airports and growing our footprint, have nevertheless remained intact and continue to be aligned to global best practice. In the medium and long term, Acsa will focus on expanding infrastructure and capacity,” Khambule said.
Similar improvements to airport services are being implemented at King Shaka International Airport in Durban and at Cape Town International.
A biometrics-driven automated border control system was initiated in Cape Town with similar systems now under way in Johannesburg and Durban.
Electronic check-in bays are fully functional at OR Tambo and will soon also be available at the other two airports as part of Acsa’s digitisation programme.
An upgraded parking management system, which includes a tap-and-go credit card payment option, as well one payable via phone application, will be implemented at all three airports, with King Shaka’s already in action.
Tenders have been issued for repairing the taxiways and motorised gates at Cape Town and OR Tambo, the repair of escalators and the monitoring of storm and groundwater services at King Shaka, and repairing of boarding bridges at all three airports. The total budget for improvements to security systems at Acsa airports for the current financial year is R460m; R172m for improvement of parking systems; R155m for permits and access control; R109m for the self-service digitisation; and R121m to improve the jet fuel feeder line. Repair and maintenance costs will increase by 17.5% to R339m.
The ills OR Tambo and other South African airports suffer are no different to elsewhere in the world. Some frequent travellers said on social media that OR Tambo in general compares well with European airports such as Schiphol in Amsterdam and Heathrow in London, which have become notoriously chaotic in peak times.
At Schiphol the airport had to limit the number of passengers departing during the recent European summer holidays.
According to a statement by the airport these measures will continue into 2023.
KLM, the Dutch flag carrier, reacted furiously, saying it was unacceptable that the airlines had to absorb an 18% reduction during the summer high season and now had to continue reducing 22% in December.
Schiphol — as is the case with most airports including OR Tambo — cut back on staff numbers during lockdown.
While the recovery rate of people travelling increased, airports are still trying to overcome the Covid losses.
Khambule said Acsa and the department of home affairs “work in collaboration to ensure peak periods are managed effectively”.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.