DURBAN - A VIRGINIA Airport tenant says he will fight tooth and nail against eThekwini Municipality’s attempts to evict them from the facility.
Darryl Mann, who recently sold his company Aero Natal, which is based at the airport, but remains one of the directors of the entity, said he was willing to go to court if necessary, as he thought the decision by the municipality was both irresponsible and irrational.
This follows an announcement made at last week’s eThekwini executive committee meeting that the city was forging ahead with development plans for the airport land and had already issued eviction notices to tenants operating at the airport.
The municipality wants to redevelop Virginia Airport into a viable mixed-use node, which would include high-end residential, tourism and leisure elements.
Mann said Virginia Airport provided a range of services that were not found at a commercial airport, and the closure of the airport would affect the operation of other services.
“The fact is that the world over there is no successful city without a general aviation airport because of the services it offers, and this was demonstrated during the riots in July when emergency services made use of Virginia Airport – the Red Cross, the SAPS and 911 teams were making use of the airport,” said Mann.
He cited other services including pilot training programmes that had benefited many people who had acquired their licences over the years as a demonstration of the importance of the airport.
“We will see them in court if that is what it takes,” Mann insisted.
He pointed out that the municipality had a legal obligation to find a suitable piece of land as an alternative site.
Other tenants would not comment on whether they would also consider going the legal route.
Pete Graham, the founder and chief executive of Singakwazi Aid community upliftment and former chairperson of Durban Wings Club, a flying school that has operated at Virginia Airport for more than 30 years, expressed disappointment with eThekwini’s approach, questioning the reasoning behind it.
“For me there is no other reason than greed. We already have an oversupply of housing in that bracket, we have an oversupply of retail, we have an oversupply of mixed-used, rentals are at an all time low. What on earth are you thinking when you consider doing something like that now?” he asked.
Graham cited the Point Waterfront, which has not been concluded, as an example of long-term projects that never got finished, saying the removal of tenants at Virginia amounted to taking away livelihoods from tenants.
He pointed out that the airport had provided material benefits beyond aviation.
“For instance, for one to get a pilot’s licence one has to go for training that goes on for months, and this usually means that they use accommodation facilities that are in the surrounding areas, and that is revenue injected into the local economy,” Graham said.
Aviation expert and the editor of SA Flyer Magazine, Dr Guy Leitch, agreed that big cities benefited immensely from having a general aviation airport, because of the wide range of services they offered in the aviation value chain. He also noted that because Virginia was located on the coastline, it made it a valuable piece of land that appealed to everyone. He said the only alternative general aviation airport that could be considered was at Pietermaritzburg, but stressed that even that option had too many limitations.
“If you are looking to do business in Durban and have to land in Pietermaritzburg, then drive another 100km, it simply does not make business and economic sense,” said Leitch.
He advised that consideration should be given for the old Durban International Airport to be used as an alternative site by the tenants of Virginia Airport.
Political economist and academic at the University of Zululand, Professor Irshaad Kaseeram, said the municipality realised the importance of the land on which the airport was located.
“Virginia Airport is located in a prime area adjacent to uMhlanga, and more value will be extracted from developing the land for upmarket resorts,” said Kaseeram.
He argued that it would make more sense for a wing of King Shaka International Airport to be devoted to small private aviation operators.
“King Shaka International has a 50-year development plan, it has plenty of unused land and is ideally located central to all major business zones,” he said.
He stressed that it was a strategic imperative to promote the use of underutilised aviation facilities for small private operators since private-public partnerships were an efficient model for promoting employment and economic growth.
Following the discussion at Exco last week, the report on Virginia Airport is expected to be discussed by a full council sitting tomorrow, where it is likely to be adopted.
THE MERCURY