The Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) announced on Thursday that terminal buildings at three of its airports had been open to the non-flying public since Monday (December 7). The airports concerned are Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport, Cape Town International Airport and Durban’s King Shaka International Airport.

This development is part of a phased easing of restrictions, which started when the company was allowed to reopen its airports with the restart of domestic flights in June, following the national lockdown and halting of all commercial flights that had been imposed to counter the Covid-19 pandemic. On December 3 Acsa had been notified by the Department of Transport of the revision of the regulations governing access to airports. 

“We are pleased to be able to further relax the restrictions,” affirmed Acsa COO Fundi Sithebe. “This will benefit passengers and their friends and families. The change in terminal access requirements also provides the opportunity for airport retailers, restaurants and other concessionaires to begin recovering from the devastation their businesses have suffered since 27 March. While Acsa has implemented rental relief and other steps for airport retailers and concessionaires, we believe the time is right to take further steps to support their recovery.”

However, the terminal buildings at Acsa’s other airports remain closed to the non-flying public. These are Bram Fischer International Airport (Bloemfontein), East London Airport, George Airport, Kimberley Airport, Port Elizabeth International Airport and Upington International Airport. This is due to the small size of the terminals at these airports, causing capacity constraints and making physical distancing difficult. This situation will be reviewed later.

“It is certainly safe to fly, but the constrained economic circumstances of many South Africans mean that domestic air travel [this holiday season] will perhaps be about half of what it was in the 2019 holiday season,” she stated. “For international travel, the change in Level 1 regulations is most welcome and our international airports are geared to facilitate more passengers from other countries. However, we recognise that the countries that are our greatest sources of tourists are experiencing significant increases in Covid-19 infections and it may be challenging for people to travel from those countries.”

All Covid-19 protocols will continue to be enforced at the newly-reopened Acsa terminals, she stressed. These include the wearing of masks, physical distancing and the sanitising of hands. They will also be applied at car hire and food and retail outlets. People will be screened for temperature and required to sanitise their hands at the entrances to the terminals.