South Africa is exploring the involvement of the private sector in plans to develop its existing airports to cope with rising passenger and cargo demand over the next 40 to 60 years.
This was revealed in the National Airports Development Plan (NADP) – March 2024, which was gazetted on Friday by the Department of Transport, inviting public comment on its long-term planning for the aviation network.
South Africa has more than 1 500 airports, including licensed, unlicensed and registered facilities. Only 10 are designated as international airports, with the three major ones – OR Tambo International, Cape Town International and King Shaka International – operated by the Airports Company South Africa (Acsa). Lanseria is the country’s only privately owned international airport. Approximately 86% of passenger volume moves through the Acsa network.
The plan, gazetted on Friday, notes increasing global private-sector involvement in airport management and financing, particularly through long-term concessions. It highlights that governments prefer reduced risk and shareholding, with private companies overseeing operations.
“One of the initiatives for the next five years … is the exploration of potential mechanisms to involve the private sector in airport planning and design, including concession models, long-term leases with associated responsibilities for upgrading infrastructure and technical input from specialist infrastructure private financiers,” the plan states.
“It must be noted, however, that the potential privatisation of major airports will require special attention and approval from the appropriate authorities.”
The document identifies physical capacity constraints at some airports despite upgrades ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
“Where airports (in particular those in larger cities where land is a constraint and urban expansion rates are high) are expected to exceed their ultimate capacity in the next 40 to 60 years, provision should ideally be made to safeguard suitable land for the required additional airport, and the zoning around the area also needs to be aligned and contained in the spatial development frameworks to avoid encroachment of incompatible land use,” the report noted.
The plan recognises cargo handling as an integral activity at airports, alongside passenger services, aircraft maintenance, fuelling and non-aeronautical revenues. Other activities include aircraft storage, maintenance and repair; retail; food service and hospitality/hotels; conferences and events and offices.
“Cargo handling capacity is constrained at Ortia – where over 80% of cargo volumes are currently concentrated – and plans for a midfield cargo terminal aim to address this through infrastructure investment to accommodate 750 000 tonnes of cargo per annum,” the report notes.
The plan aims to expedite the Midfield Cargo Development Project to ensure Ortia regains its status as the premier cargo hub in Africa and acts as a catalyst for other non-aeronautical developments in and around the airport.
“Cargo capacity at other international airports may help to address this gap, depending on international air connectivity at these airports. The scale and nature of cargo are unlikely to support freighter-focused airports and cargo hubs in the short to medium term,” it said.
The plan also addresses smaller airports, noting they are increasingly targeted for illegal activities such as drug and gun trafficking, smuggling of protected species and undocumented migration. It calls for new security strategies while acknowledging resource constraints.
The NADP sets a vision for an airport network with sufficient capacity, integrated into transport and spatial planning, financially sustainable and compliant with safety, security and environmental standards.
It includes a five-year implementation plan covering land reservation, private sector mechanisms, knowledge management and technical capacity building.
The full document is available here.
