Durban - King Shaka International Airport (KSIA) in Durban has assured passengers that there was no fire at the airport and that operations were proceeding as usual after a fire alarm was set off on Tuesday.
In a statement, the airport confirmed that the fire alarm was set off at 12.18pm.
According to the airport, the fire alarm was not part of any planned fire drill or actual fire that was detected at the airport.
“(It) was due to a double activation of smoke sensors in an unoccupied and locked area within the terminal building.”
KSIA said the activation of the alarm was in line with the system design for detection of fire in the specific zone, and therefore in line with the fire protection design protocols.
“King Shaka International Airport is in the process of upgrading the whole fire detection system as the system is approaching the end of its expected operating life span.
“The process to appoint a service provider to install a new system is well under way after the initial tender came back non-responsive.”
The airport apologised to all its passengers and visitors for the inconvenience, as well as the unnecessary concern this might have given rise to.
“In the meantime, we would however urge our passengers to continue to observe all emergency protocols while visiting our facilities.”
In January, IOL reported an announcement by the Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) that King Shaka International Airport ranked fifth in the global Official Airline Guide (OAG) Punctuality League 2023 report.
The OAG report records and looks at flight data for the January 1 2022 to December 31, 2022 period.
According to the report, King Shaka International Airport had an On-Time Performance (OTP) of 89.73% in the category of the Top 20 airports worldwide, while Cape Town International Airport was ranked 16th, with an OTP of 87.02%.