Airports Company South Africa has highlighted that May 1 marked the sixteenth anniversary of Durban’s King Shaka International Airport (KSIA), which is now the country’s third busiest airport. KSIA is KwaZulu-Natal province’s main international passenger gateway and a major benefit for the provincial economy.

“[KSIA] is a critical asset of the regional economic activity in the province, supporting not only tourism growth and global connectivity but strengthening trade flows,” highlighted KSIA regional GM Nkosinathi Myataza. “Its evolution over the past 16 years is a testament to sustained investment and to the conviction that an airport’s measure is not only the number of passengers it handles but the breadth of opportunity it creates for the communities it serves.”

KSIA recovered strongly from the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. During the 2025/26 financial year, passenger traffic reached 92% of pre-Covid levels (or 5.6-million passengers, compared with 6.1-million in financial year 2019/20). Air Traffic Movements reached 89% of the pre-Covid level (40 935 compared with 50 753).

The Durban Direct initiative, which sought to develop new air routes to and from KSIA, has increased the number of carriers using the airport, and so the number of connections it has, for both passengers and cargo. This has boosted both tourism and wider economic activity in the province.

During the 2025/26 festive season, more than 1.2-million visitors passed through KSIA (a 19% year-on-year increase), 194 000 of them being international tourists. The domestic tourists generated economic activity worth R6.1-billion, while the international visitors added another R1.5-billion. More than 14 000 jobs were directly supported by these tourists.

ACSA is initiating an investment programme to upgrade existing airport infrastructure and facilities and add new ones at KSIA. It would also fund compliance-related projects at the airport. This, the company noted, showed its commitment to improving service delivery for both passengers and stakeholders.  

KSIA also undertook targeted socioeconomic programmes, to support regional development. These included skills development, food security and enterprise support in the neighbouring communities. Examples were early childhood development training in Ndwedwe and agricultural training in Verulam.