Durban International Airport

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Durban International Airport

IATA: DUR – ICAO: FADN
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Airports Company South Africa
Location Durban, South Africa
Elevation AMSL 29 ft / 9 m
Coordinates 29°58′07″S 30°56′52″E / -29.96861, 30.94778
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
06/24 8,000 2,439 Paved

Durban International Airport (IATA: DUR, ICAO: FADN), formerly Louis Botha Airport, is located in Durban, South Africa.

Contents

[edit] General

The airport is the smallest of South Africa's three declared international airport gateways (after Johannesburg and Cape Town), with a single north-south runway bordered by the Umlazi Canal to the north and the industrial suburb of Prospecton to the south. The airport is accessible from the N2 and M4 freeways.

Durban has seen a decline in international traffic over the years. For a short period of time Singapore Airlines was the only airline offering intercontinental flights from Durban, a distinction that will end when Emirates Airline begins non-stop flights to Dubai on December 1st, 2008.[1] Presently, a large majority of international airlines serving South Africa fly via Johannesburg. Durban suffers from relatively low international passenger numbers, and a runway that is too short for a fully-laden Boeing 747 to take off. Ironically, Durban's sea level location means that, were a suitable runway available, a large jet could carry both a full load of passengers and fuel, something that is precluded by Johannesburg's high altitude.

In fiscal year 2007 (April 2007-March 2008), the airport served nearly 4.4 million passengers.[2]

[edit] Decommissioning and new airport

Plans to move the airport to La Mercy (30km north of central Durban) were proposed and shelved numerous times between the 1970s and 2007. Final approval for King Shaka International[3] (KSIA) was given in 2007, and construction began in September 2007.[4] KSIA is expected to be complete in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.[5]

When KSIA is operational, the existing airport will be decommissioned. Durban International is located on a large parcel of flat land in the Durban South Industrial Basin, which is already home to much of the city's heavy industry. Given Durban's generally very hilly terrain, such a large, flat parcel is ideal for future industrial development, port expansion, or both.[6]

Building KSIA will, it is hoped, stimulate international tourism to Durban, South Africa's third largest metropolitan area.[7] However, according to the draft tourism documents prepared for the new airport's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), no new international airlines have committed to flying to Durban, even with a longer runway.[8] The airlines surveyed indicated that there is not yet sufficient passenger demand for direct long-distance international flights to the city, and that if such demand existed, they would already fly to the existing airport, even withouth a longer runway. Despite this assessment, however, KSIA can be justified solely in terms of projected passenger growth, almost all of which will come from domestic routes.[9] The existing airport site is suitable for expansion, but only at tremendous cost, and is able only to handle projected growth up to 2035, not beyond.[10]

[edit] Airlines and destinations

[edit] Aviation

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/UAE/226937
  2. ^ http://www.acsa.co.za/home.asp?pid=141
  3. ^ http://www.dubetradeport.co.za/
  4. ^ http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3045&art_id=vn20071206110430714C910841
  5. ^ Ibid.
  6. ^ http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/economy.aspx?ID=BD4A383859
  7. ^ http://www.statssa.gov.za/Publications/P03011/P030112007.pdf
  8. ^ http://eia.dubetradeport.co.za/Documents/Documents/2007June07/Chapter%2012%20-%20EIR%20Tourism.pdf
  9. ^ Ibid.
  10. ^ http://eia.dubetradeport.co.za/Documents/Documents/2007June07/Chapter%2012%20-%20EIR%20Tourism.pdf

[edit] External links