King Mswati III International Airport

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
King Mswati III International Airport
Eswatini Civil Aviation Authority- (ESWACAA) -LOGO.png
King Mswati III International Airport - Terminal.jpg
Characteristics
ICAO code FDSK
IATA code SHO
Coordinates

26 ° 21 ′ 31 ″  S , 31 ° 43 ′ 1 ″  E Coordinates: 26 ° 21 ′ 31 ″  S , 31 ° 43 ′ 1 ″  E
Height above MSL 324 m (1063  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center 14 km northwest of Mpaka (Eswatini)
Street 17 km to the MR3
Basic data
operator Eswatini Civil Aviation Authority (ESWACAA)
Terminals 1
Capacity
( PAX per year) 		360,000
Start-and runway
02/20 3600 m × 45 m asphalt

i1 i3

i6 i8 i10 i12 i14

The King Mswati III International Airport (in German about King Mswati III International Airport ), called Sikhuphe International Airport during the planning and construction phase , is the only active international civil airport in the Kingdom of Eswatini in southern Africa . On September 30, 2014, it replaced Matsapha International Airport as the country's international airport. The airport was already opened on March 7, 2014 by King Mswati III. was inaugurated and got its current name.

Location and transport links

View from the tarmac to the airport terminal
Airplane Embraer ERJ 135-LR of the South African airline Airlink at Mswati III airport.

The airport is around 70 kilometers east of the capital Mbabane and around 45 kilometers from the economic center of Manzini . It is connected to the main MR3 road by a 17-kilometer access road. The airport can therefore be reached without exception on paved roads up to the capital. The closest place is Mpaka (about 14 kilometers to the southeast) with around 2000 inhabitants . The car rental companies Avis and Europcar are the only car rental companies to offer their services at the airport.

The airport area is located in the middle of a sparsely populated landscape and offers neither hotels, shops, restaurants, nor a petrol station. In Mpaka there is the only gas station within a radius of 20 kilometers.

Facilities and operations

According to prior planning, the airport should be able to handle up to 5000 cargo units per year. The runway is 3,600 meters long so that a Boeing 747 can serve the airport. The terminal can handle according to official sources up to 300 passengers per hour.

The airport has no passenger boarding bridges and does not offer a bus service to the terminal on arrival or departure. There are four counters for border control on arrival and departure. The airport has three baggage claim belts . In the waiting hall after customs there are a total of three shops, all of which are souvenir shop-like. In the arrival hall there are no shops and only a drinks machine. There are no restaurants at the entire airport. Taxis are only available irregularly. Use of the spacious, but uncovered parking area directly in front of the airport terminal is free and the rental car return locations of the two car rental companies are also located there. A bus connects the airport with Manzini, Matsapha and Mbabane; the travel time to and from Mbabane is two hours.

Airlines and connections

The airport is currently (as of May 2020) only served by the South African Airlink . The only destination is OR Tambo International Airport near Johannesburg .

history

Construction of the airport began in 2003. Completion was scheduled for June 2010 at a cost of $ 207 million. The project was funded by the Taiwanese government to intensify Taiwan-Eswatinis-Wasiland relations with USD 22 million. In addition to a joint venture between local construction companies, a construction and engineering office from Taiwan was involved in the construction, which was responsible for professional advice and complete planning, as well as the construction and monitoring of the terminal building and the freight building. The construction was finally completed in 2014 and already on March 7, 2014 by King Mswati III. inaugurated, although he did not yet have an IATA operating license. Flight operations began on September 30, 2014.

During the construction phase, the airport was known as Sikhuphe International Airport , which is why the airport's IATA code is SHO. The construction costs came to around 280 million US dollars in the end , i.e. almost ten percent of the Kingdom's 2012 gross domestic product . At the beginning of 2011, the country experienced severe financial difficulties, so that airport construction came to an abrupt halt after construction companies stopped their work. As a result, Taiwan granted further assistance of E 150 million  (approximately US $ 13 million).

The inauguration of the airport by King Mswati III. reminds a small plaque in the arrival hall of the airport. The Matsapha Airport , the Air Force since the opening of the new airport only for medical missions, aircraft movements of the royal family and inserts Umbutfo Eswatini Defense Force used.

criticism

Internationally, the airport hit the headlines even before its completion. King Mswati III was criticized, among other things, because of the high expenditure, because his country suffers from severe poverty. According to the newspaper, the airport was also built without an existing business plan and its economic benefit was therefore questioned.

According to previous estimates, the airport needs 400,000 passengers per year for profitable economic operation. Until the new airport opened, however, only around 70,000 passengers used the old Matsapha airport, which also only offered scheduled flights to Johannesburg . A 2006 study predicted that moving from the old to the new airport would mean the bankruptcy of Eswatini's only airline, Eswatini Airlink .

Numerous experts assumed in advance that the new airport would be a " white elephant ", since none of the airlines that served Swaziland (now Eswatini) at the time wanted to move to the remote new airport. They preferred the proximity of the old airport to the economic center of the country.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The King Mswati III International Airport operated by Eswatini Civil Aviation Authority (ESWACAA) , accessed May 11, 2020
  2. ↑ a b c d AFP: 'Swaziland king opens' white elephant' airport. (No longer available online.) In: news24 Nigeria. March 8, 2014, archived from the original on March 21, 2014 ; accessed on May 22, 2020 (English).
  3. ↑ Description at swacaa.co.sz ( Memento from February 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  4. ↑ Swaziland airport fails to lift off. In Mail & Guardian of May 4, 2012 (English)
  5. ↑ KING MSWATI III INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. SCAA accessed on March 21, 2014
  6. ↑ Bus timetable (English), accessed on November 9, 2015
  7. ↑ Airport Development news. (PDF) Africa. Airports Council International , September 22, 2009, archived from the original on August 21, 2010 ; accessed on May 24, 2020 .
  8. ↑ a b Sifisio Sibandze: Taiwanese govt rescues Sikhuphe. The Taiwanese government has come to the rescue of Sikhuphe International Airport through the payment of one of the contractors. In: Times of Swaziland. April 21, 2011, archived from the original on May 6, 2020 ; accessed on May 24, 2020 (Google webcache).
  9. ↑ Matsapha Airport , accessed October 15, 2015
  10. ^ Army air wing officers using poor accommodation facilities . Article by Sandile Nkambule from November 15, 2014 in the Swazi Observer, accessed October 17, 2015
  11. ↑ The fear of the albinos before the elections on heise.de 2013
  12. ↑ Swaziland and its king on economist.com
  13. ↑ a b c Only Mswati's private jet likely to use R3bn airport. Sunday Tribune, March 9, 2014, accessed October 15, 2015
  14. ↑ Will Swaziland's new airport become a white elephant ?, Tourism Update, July 13, 2011