New KMIA airport postpones cargo operations till next year

Facilities to be concessioned to freight companies Leonard Neill KRUGER MPUMALANGA International Airport (KMIA) opens its runways to traffic next Monday (October 21) but cargo operations are on hold until the planned passenger services get underway. The R350million airport, situated 25km from Nelspruit and 15km from Kruger Park, has been aimed at the domestic and international tourist trade, but business in the region is awaiting cargo facilities to cut travelling times to other export departure points. ÒThere is tremendous potential for cargo operations in this region,Ó says Gordon Griffiths, founder-chairman of the Mpumalanga Development Investment Initiative, and now consultant to that body. ÒThe airport developers should have realised that while waiting for the flow of tourists to come, and that will take a while, there were immediate cargo consignments available which could have been financially valuable to them had they kicked off with freight handling operations when the airport opened. The perishable season alone is a big one, and that is upon us right now. But the goods will now have to be trucked this year to Gauteng as usual for exporting.Ó KMIA is controlled by Primkop Airport Management, whose business development manager Irvin Phenyane says that cargo facilities will be available Ôearly next yearÕ. ÒWe have been dealing with outside companies to have this started as soon after the New Year as possible,Ó he said. ÒSpace for the development of cargo handling facilities was allocated at the airport from the initial planning stage, but we have decided not to become directly involved in the air freighting business. Instead we see growing demand by freight companies for concessions to operate and manage their own facilities at the airport.Ó Managing director John Manning estimates 60% of fresh produce export cargo handled at Johannesburg International Airport emanates from the Mpumalanga and Limpopo Lowveld regions, which are situated at least 350km by road from JIA. He believes KMIA will be far more suitable for handling of these products. But perishables will not be the only products from the region suited to airfreighting. The area is also a major producer of sugar, tea, coffee, wool, petrol chemicals, plastics and stainless steel. Most of these items form bulk sea shipments, but urgent supplies are required by air, which now have to make the journey by road to JIA for dispatching. The airport has a 3,1km runway, which is 60m wide and able to handle all Boeing and Airbus aircraft.