‘Hot air’ threatens Swazi airport

MBABANE – Swaziland’s only airport faces imminent closure because of unhealthy working conditions for air traffic controllers. The Ministry of Enterprise and Employment’s labour department issued a directive last week to close the control tower at Matsapha International Airport, located at the Matsapha Industrial Estate 30 minutes east of Mbabane. “The working environment is unfit for human habitation,” the ministry said in its citation. At issue is a faulty air conditioner that has not worked in one year. Temperatures last week reached 40 degrees Celsius within the glass-enclosed control tower. The maximum permissible temperature is 25 degrees Celsius. Air controllers tried to use a fan, but gave up when it kept blowing away their flight logs. A large window was open for ventilation, but had to be closed during times of air traffic because the noise of planes drowns out radio communications even with headsets on. Two airlines, SAA Airlink Swaziland and Swazi Air Express, use the airport daily, as do overnight courier services. No one at the Ministry of Transportation was available to explain why someone doesn’t fix the control tower air conditioning. One businessman who commutes thrice weekly to Johannesburg said: “Government is building a multi-million dollar airport in the bush, but can’t find the money to fix the air conditioner at Matsapha.”