The Airline part
owned by the Swazi Government is to be forced to move its operations to the
King Mswati III Airport, which opened in March 2014 but has not seen a single
commercial aircraft land since.
Swaziland Airlink
General Manager Teddy Mavuso put on a brave face at a press
conference on Wednesday (20
August 2014) when he announced that the Swaziland Civil Aviation Authority
(SWACAA) had told the airline company that its present base Matsapha airport
would close and all commercial operations must use the new airport, formerly
known as Sikhuphe, from 30 September 2014.
Sikhuphe which was
renamed King Mswati III Airport in honour of the kingdom’s autocratic monarch
is situated in a wilderness in the south eastern part of the tiny kingdom. Matsapha,
the airport that is to close as a result, is close to both the kingdom’s
capital Mbabane and the main commercial city, Manzini.
Mavuso told the
press conference, ‘As an
airline we are the first to admit that change is very difficult to accede to
and manage, and yet, on the other hand, change is very necessary to allow for
the reorientation of the mindset and the flexibility to explore various
alternative solutions in support of developing strategies that are intended to
foster growth in the country’s economy.’
He added, ‘Swaziland
Airlink undertakes to rise to the occasion in this respect and will exert all
possible effort to counter and mitigate any challenges that stand in the way of
success in the process.’
Airlink, which is a joint venture between Swaziland and South
African Airways, has consistently opposed moving from Matsapha to the new
airport. At present it runs a service from Matsapha to Johannesburg. Matsapha is ten minutes’ drive from
Swaziland’s commercial capital, Manzini, but Sikhuphe is about 70 km away.
A 2009 study commissioned by Airlink found air travellers
would rather drive to Johannesburg than take the trek to fly from Sikhuphe.
Business Report newspaper in South
Africa quoted the study, ‘The road journey takes three hours including a stop
at the border post. Total travel time from Matsapha, including getting to the
airport, waiting, flying, going through customs and retrieving baggage at
Johannesburg and taking ground transport to the destination is on average three
hours 30 minutes.
‘From [King Mswati III airport] the journey in each direction
will take four hours 20 minutes. This will make air travel from a morning or a
day trip unviable as the time taken for travel will amount to eight hours 40
minutes, whereas road travel will take six hours.
The study added, ‘With 60 percent of passengers on this
route being point-to-point travellers, it is estimated that as much as 40
percent of these passengers and 20 percent of connecting passengers, or 32
percent of current passengers, will opt for road travel.
‘The risk of a move to [King Mswati III Airport] is
unpalatable considering that in a realistic scenario the business will run at a
loss… leaving the business unsustainable and an inevitable failure.’
At present Matsapha has about 70,000 passengers a year. King
Mswati III Airport needs 400,000 passengers a year to break even.
In 2013, the Swaziland Prime Minister Barnabas Dlamini, who
was unelected by the people, but personally appointed by King Mswati, told
newspaper editors, ‘Swazi Airlink will have to use Sikhuphe as it will be
our international airport.’
After the official opening of the airport on 7 March 2014,
Solomon Dube, Director of the Swaziland Civil Aviation Authority (SWACAA), told
local media Swazi Airlink had specifically asked
not to operate from the airport for now.
Sikhuphe has cost
at least E3 billion (US$300 million) so far to build and is widely regarded
outside of Swaziland as a vanity project for the king. Most of the money to
build it came from the Swazi taxpayer, even though seven in ten of King
Mswati’s subjects live in abject poverty with incomes of less than US$2 a day.
No independent
study on the need for Sikhuphe Airport was ever undertaken and the main impetus
behind its construction has been King Mswati. He believes the airport will lend
credibility to his dream to make Swaziland a ‘First World’ nation by 2022.
In 2003, when
the plan to build the airport was announced, the International Monetary Fund said Sikhuphe
should not be built because
it would divert funds away from much needed projects to fight poverty in
Swaziland.
As recently as
October 2013, a report from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said Sikhuphe Airport was widely
perceived as a ‘vanity project’ because of its scale and opulence compared
with the size and nature of the market it seeks to serve.
In his press conference
Mavuso said although Matsapha Airport would be closed for commercial purposes, King
Mswati would still be able to fly his private jet from there.
See also
AIRLINK FORCED TO USE KING’S AIRPORT
AIRPORT MOVE WILL ‘BANKRUPT AIRLINK’
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