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S.A getting set for World Cup influx
By Fred Kaweesi
in Johannesburg
TO make sure the country can handle the expected massive influx of visitors for the 2010 World Cup, South Africa’s airports have been undergoing major upgrades and are ready.
The upgrades will go far beyond catering for the fans during the football World Cup.
Though not normally used as a commercial airport, Wonderboom will provide a service to fans in Tshwane during the World Cup, and has had its arrival and departure lounges refurbished and parking facilities extended for this purpose.
OR Tambo International Airport, the transport hub for the country, handles around 16 million passengers.
The airport’s new central terminal building is well on its way to completion, with parts of it already in public use.
Seventy-five additional check-in desks have been instituted along with an additional six baggage carousels, allowing passengers to be processed and put on their flights more efficiently.
The introduction of bay detection technology has also vastly improved the ease in which passengers can find parking, with green or red lights indicating whether bays are open or not.
Over six million passengers pass through Cape Town International Airport each year, but figure is expected to double in June.
A new multi-level, 4 000-bay parkade has opened with the first 400 bays already open to the public.
The last phase of Cape Town International’s development, due to be complete in March 2010, is the extension to the existing arrivals terminal, with pedestrian connectivity to the central terminal building.
The same developments have been done at the Durban International Airport.
As one of South Africa’s smaller airports, Bloemfontein Airport handles around 250 000 passengers per year. The World Cup, coming to Africa for the first time starts in June.
Published on: Saturday, 6th February, 2010
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