Security at South Africa's busiest airport, Johannesburg International Airport (JIA), would be scaled up ahead of 2010 and Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) GM for JIA, Chris Hlekane, has promised a safe and construction-free airport for the soccer World Cup.

He told journalists at a quarterly briefing on Thursday, in Johannesburg, that Acsa, the owner and operator of ten domestic airports, had completed its new access permit system, which now comprised zone-management functionalities and finger print biometric technology.

In the process, it reduced the number of access permit issued at JIA, soon to become OR Tambo International Airport, from 30 000 to 20 000 and also introduced penalties, which could force noncompliant permit holders to pay fines of up to R10 000.

“We hope the stiff fines will restrict permit holders from doing as they wish with the permits,” Hlekane said.

Acsa also intensified the security at its baggage-handling facility and the intensified operation has led to the arrest of some 22 people working with baggage. The company said it would procure automated baggage-tag scanning and tracking equipment, which would ensure that bags were not picked up from the conveyor belts to be scanned and, thus, lessen human intervention with luggage.

Meanwhile, the International Civil Aviation Organisation completed an audit on JIA, during August, and Hlekane told journalists that the auditors were satisfied with the airport's aviation security, adding that some of JIA's equipment was now used as a model for other airports.

Commenting on the progress of the R3,5-billion JIA infrastructure upgrade programme, Acsa's Dawid Scholtz said that construction was in “full swing” and that all developments would be complete by the end of 2009. “By early 2010, we will have a construction-free airport.”

Hlekane reported that construction on the infrastructure projects, which included a central terminal building, international pier development, a second multi-storey parkade and a new upper roadway, was actually slightly ahead of plan.

Construction on the central terminal building, linking the domestic and international terminals, began in June and Scholtz reported that it would be complete by the end of 2009.

The international pier development, which would allow for a substantial increase in the number of passengers boarding and disembarking through air bridges, would be operational by March, after which Acsa would embark on a second phase of development. Ultimately, the international pier development would provide extra passenger holding space, an expanded duty-free mall and a bus station to serve departures to remotely parked aircraft.

Hlekane admitted that parking was one of the airport's main challenges and reported that, during peak times, the current parking facilities, which could hold 8 750 cars, were overused. The new multistorey parkade, the first phase of which was expected to be open to the public by August 2007, would add a further 5 200 parking bays. Completion was scheduled for December 2008.

Moreover, construction on the new upper roadway, which would allow the extension of the international departures concourse into the existing upper road, began earlier this year and Acsa planned to have the project completed by February. The extension of the international departures public concourse was out on tender and anticipated completion was the end of next year.

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