The Durban International Airport will handle its last international flights at the end of the month, when it will make way for the new R6,7-billion King Shaka International Airport.

The new KwaZulu-Natal airport will be officially opened on May 1, and will be inaugurated by President Jacob Zuma on May 8.

Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) King Shaka deputy GM Bongi Pityi said on Thursday during a media visit to the new airport that King Shaka was 99% completed and that only "fine trimming" was necessary before its opening in 15 days time.

Acsa King Shaka GM Terence Delomoney tells Engineering News Online that the Durban International Airport would be handed over to the South African military during the FIFA World Cup and that stakeholders would decide on its future use after the sporting event, which starts in mid-June.

The 19 000-m² airport will boast 18 passenger aircraft stands, 400 000 m² of runway, taxiway and parking aprons, and will have the capacity to handle 7,5-million passengers a year.

Responding to criticism that the R6,7-billion project was "overextravagant", blowing its initial budget of R3,15-billion, without justifiable passenger demand in the area, Delomoney said that Acsa took over the project 30 months ago and that it had not done the initial budget estimates.

Also, King Shaka project leader Sean van der Valk added that the Durban International Airport only had a passenger capacity of 3,5-million a year, which was already being exceeded by around 500 000 passengers a year, making new facilities a necessity.

Further, the new airport would host the R1,35-billion Dube TradePort, which would combine the airport with an adjacent trade port consisting of a trade zone, linked to the airport airfreight component, a support zone consisting of hotels, conference facilities and business parks, as well as an agricultural zone.