New Swazi airport serves one carrier

MBABANE – One year after the opening of the King Mswati III International Airport (KM3 for short), official passenger numbers show usage has not grown from the old Matsapha airport that the facility replaced. Solomon Dube, director general of the Swaziland Civil Aviation Authority (SWACAA), said passenger numbers for the past year had amounted to 70 000. The figure is identical to passenger volume seen at Matsapha. Swaziland Airlink, which is partly owned by the Swazi government, runs three flights daily to and from Johannesburg, and accounts for the entirety of KM3’s passenger numbers. Air freight volumes on most flights range from none to negligible. The airport was built at a cost of US$2 billion and largely sits idle in a rural setting east of Manzini.