Zambia has invested millions of dollars in upgrading freight and passenger capacity at its two major international freight and passenger airports in line with the country’s national development plans.The Eighth National Development Plan 2022-2026 states: “Improvements will be made in the transport and logistics sub-sectors, with the focus on positioning the country as a regional transport and logistics hub.”It adds that the volume of passengers and cargo transported by roads, rail and air are also expected to increase during the Plan period. “It is expected that the transport and logistics sub-sector will register an average annual growth rate of 5.5% from an annual average of 0.6% over the 2011-2020 period.”In order to stimulate and accommodate the growth, four of Zambia's international airports have been upgraded through a total investment of around $1 billion.Zambia’s two largest airport infrastructure projects have been completed. They are a new Terminal 2 at Kenneth Kaunda International (KKIA) in Lusaka and a greenfield airport in Ndola.Some $360 million was invested in Kenneth Kaunda Terminal 2. It includes a cargo terminal as well as passenger facilities, and a new air traffic control (ATC) centre.The new terminal caters for four million passengers annually and the old terminal building, which has seen little upgrading since it opened in 1967, will now be refurbished and rebranded as Terminal 1, boosting total capacity to six million.More f lights will increase the airfreight capacity into and out of the airport.Ndola’s new Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport serves the Copperbelt. Around $400 million was invested in cargo and passenger terminals on a greenfield site between Ndola and Kitwe.
Airfreight should be flying high
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