Durban’s King Shaka International Airport is making giant strides in its bid to reposition itself as a top international airport, with international flights showing an appetite for flying directly to the city.
This is according to the Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) regional general manager, Nkosinathi Myataza, in an interview with “The Mercury” on the sidelines of Africa’s Tourism Indaba, held in Durban this week.
Myataza said they are excited that the first Club Med resort will be opening in Durban in July 2026.
“It’s the first Club Med to be opened in South Africa and it’s just 30 minutes away from King Shaka Airport. We are confident it will bring a large amount of international traffic to KZN and South Africa.
“We are pleased Durban was chosen as the location for the new Club Med. We hope it will bring more international flights to King Shaka Airport.”
Myataza said they have a lot to celebrate as Eswatini Air will be celebrating one year since returning to Durban.
“It’s very exciting because it actually shows interactions within our region.
We worked hard and had discussions to ensure that this route is sustainable and we have a lot of people coming into Durban from eSwatini, and we look forward to having more direct flights.”
He said the number of international flights from King Shaka Airport was showing a steady increase. “Internationally, we have Durban Istanbul operated by Turkish Airlines, Durban-Doha operated by Qatar Airways, Durban-Dubai operated by Emirates; and in Africa we have Durban-Lusaka operated by ProFlight Zambia, Durban-Harare operated by Airlink and, of course, Durban-Manzini operated by Eswatini Air.”
Myataza added they were working “around the clock” to restore routes lost during the pandemic.
“The resort development north of Durban has also opened up new market opportunities for the region and we are currently assessing the size of the opportunity and how we can best serve that market from an air connectivity perspective,” said Myataza.
He pointed to another massive development in the Dube Tradeport, which is their special economic zone.
“We have the recently launched Trade Zone 2 and there is a lot of investment that is coming, including the automotive industry, and all that we want to convert into more flights.”
King Shaka Airport, said Myataza, won the award for Best Regional Airport in Africa in the Skytrax World Airport Awards 2024.
“In these awards you are measured against other airports internationally through surveys and customer feedback.
It has been close to 10 years that we have won this award in the Best Airport Africa category.”
He added that King Shaka International Airport had celebrated its 14th anniversary since opening on May 1.
“If we think back, the airport was opened just 41 days before the Football World Cup in 2010. The actual earnest work started in 2006 to build the airport and it took 36 months for it to be completed, commissioned and opened. We did very well in the number of international travellers that came to Durban.”
Myataza said the airport was badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Covid hit the industry. We lost R2.5 billion in the first year and R1.5bn in the second year of Covid-19. As Acsa and King Shaka, we came through this period stronger and now we are in a good place.”
The Mercury