Acsa finally begins fixing dark, dingy, fading OR Tambo

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14-10-2024
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Moneyweb
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Out-of-order escalators, moving walkways that don’t move, chipped tiles, cracked walls … these do not make for a good first impression on the many tourists visiting SA.

At long last, Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) is fixing what was once a gleaming, bright and efficient international airport.

Those days – think 2010 – are long gone, and what we have seen in the last near decade-and-a-half is a steady slide into a dingy, battered and clearly barely maintained airport. 

There are a number of terminals that make up OR Tambo International. Some (and parts of some) date back more than 50 years, while others were built specifically for the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

This means tremendous inconsistency within spaces at the airport.

International check-in is either a fairly new and well-lit central terminal or the noticeably dated Terminal A (the old international portion of the airport). 

Escalators that have been out of order for years because they’re so old that they’re either uneconomical to repair or unrepairable are slowly being replaced (like that escalator in domestic arrivals down to baggage collection, which has not been working since the Covid-19 pandemic). 

Most moving walkways dotted around the terminals are switched off, likely because they simply do not work anymore. Countless tiles are chipped or cracked, and these have never been replaced. Cracks feature in walls across the airport, and some air bridges could be described as antiques (especially those in the old, old part of the domestic terminal, where at least new tiles are being installed).

Missing tiles in one part of the airport. Image: MoneywebThe ceilings are grimy, and one can only imagine what state the various air-conditioning systems are in. Mango signage is still up at baggage claim and in its former head office – the mezzanine level in the main check-in terminal. 

The worst part of the entire sprawling airport complex, and ironically the first impression many tourists have of our country, is the dull, badly lit arrivals hall (including passport control and baggage collection). With a bit of imagination and some investment, this could be a magnificent advert for South Africa. Instead, we have bland nothingness. 

At least we’ve seen a full replacement of all parking booms and payment machines across the airport last year (in 2023, it also refurbished roofs and toilets across the airport!). Prior to this, as much as half of this parking equipment was out of order at any given time. Still, the ageing escalators and lifts in the multi-storey parkade creak and whine along. These ought to have been replaced five years ago. 

Acsa’s focus is back on growth

We get it. The Covid-19 pandemic walloped airlines and airport operators worldwide, many of which are still recovering (with others collapsing into bankruptcy). It has taken Acsa three years to recover from the knock in 2020, and by the end of March, domestic and international air travel was nearing 90% of what it was in 2019. It is now shifting its focus back towards growth. 

Over the next three years, it will invest R10.1 billion in capital expenditure across its airports, with most of it in the 2026/27 year.

Given the scale and nature of its projects, the ramp-up is slow.

Less than R1 billion this year, R2 billion next and R7 billion thereafter. Of this, a total of R6.5 billion will be dedicated to refurbishment and rehabilitation. 

Contrast this with the R568 million in total capex for the 2024 financial year (to end March) and the R422 million spent in FY2023. The bulk of last year’s capex budget (R231 million) was spent on refurbishment. No wonder OR Tambo (and many of its other airports) are in such a pitiful state! 

Outside of the current period (the next three years), it sees a mammoth R10.9 billion in capex in 2027/28 alone.

This all forms part of the R21.7 billion investment programme announced by then minister of transport Sindisiwe Chikunga in March. The bulk of this will go to OR Tambo International and Cape Town International – by far the country’s two busiest airports. 

OR projects

At OR Tambo, the priority is refurbishing its cargo facilities and phase one (cargo) of the new midfield terminal complex. If you think the passenger terminals are bad, imagine how dire the current cargo facilities are … Phase one of the midfield terminal (in between the two main runways) is slated to cost R5.7 billion.

The extension of the bus station will cost another R250 million. Work on both as well as a public transport interchange (R10 million) will start in 2025 and take between three and five years, depending on the project.

Longer term (outside of the current period), a new passenger terminal will be developed alongside cargo at the midfield site at a current projected cost of R15 billion. This was all planned well before the pandemic, and construction work is now planned to start in 2028 and continue until about 2032. 

The current work underway at OR Tambo is not considered ‘major’. However, without a major focus on refreshing the main terminal buildings properly and coherently, there is a real risk of them fading into insignificance once that shiny new midfield terminal opens in the 2030s (not dissimilar to the situation with Concourse C at Dubai International Airport, which is beginning to really show its age). 

Maybe that’s Acsa’s grand plan after all …