Growth in passenger numbers at South Africa’s nine airports held steady at just over 3% in the fourth quarter of 2017, with nearly 11-million arriving and departing passengers using South Africa's main airports during the quarter.
This is according to the Airports Company South Africa’s (ACSA’s) Aviation Barometer, which is published quarterly to provide an indication of current air travel trends in the country.
“A highlight of the peak holiday season was the continued growth in international passengers at Cape Town International Airport, which saw arrivals increase by 13.85%, while international departures experienced a 15.69% growth in the fourth quarter compared with the same period in 2016,” ACSA said.
King Shaka International Airport, in Durban, continued to enjoy solid growth in domestic passenger traffic, with arrivals up 5.63% and departures up 6.17% in the fourth quarter.
Connectivity between King Shaka International and regional airports such as Mthatha, East London and Port Elizabeth also grew with the opening of new routes by smaller airlines.
Overall‚ however‚ domestic air travel remained under strain, with increases of only 2.60% for arrivals and 2.76% for departures in the fourth quarter.
International arrivals increased by 3.80% to 1.57-million passengers, while international departures rose by a 4.38% to 1.59-million passengers.
Regional travel – from Namibia‚ Botswana‚ Lesotho and Swaziland – was up by 1.70% to 147 132 passengers, while regional departures were up by 1.20% to 141 186 passengers.