February 12, 2004
By Bontle Moeng
ALREADY rated best airport on the continent, the Johannesburg International Airport is continuing to upgrade its facilities, making travelling easier and more convenient.
The next step in these efforts is the development, announced last week, of a new R44-million corridor linking the international and domestic terminals. This corridor, currently under construction, will make it easier for passengers to transfer between domestic and international flights. The new transfer facility will link the two terminals and will also have an automated baggage through-check system.
JIA's new domestic terminal
Passengers will be able to book in their luggage with their airline of choice at their departure point and collect their suitcases at their final destination, provided passengers are using a single airline for all their flights, or are travelling on airlines with alliance agreements.
Passengers, for example, will be able to board a flight in Port Elizabeth and fly to Johannesburg International Airport to connect to their London flight. On arrival in Johannesburg travellers will move through the transfer facility, where they will receive their boarding pass for their London flight. Their baggage will be automatically transferred to their London flight. Those passengers will no longer have to collect their luggage at domestic arrivals and walk to the international departures to check in their luggage again.
"This R44-million transfer facility is part of an ongoing project to develop the infrastructure at Johannesburg International Airport to ensure that both passengers and the airlines benefit from improved and more efficient airport processes," said Johannesburg International Airport and the Airports Company of South Africa (Acsa) senior communications officer, Jacqui O'Sullivan.
O'Sullivan said the new transfer facility would cater for a large number of people - "30 percent of all passengers flying out of Johannesburg International Airport arrive via a domestic flight".
The announcement of the new transfer facility was made during a workshop - the Acsa Airline Interlining Workshop - drawing together various airline companies to outline discuss opportunities to develop and improve their business.
During the workshop the general manager of Johannesburg International Airport, Bongani Maseko, said that the new facility would ensure the airport "can cater for all these people who are moving in many directions through this hub".
"As a hub airport Johannesburg International Airport has a focus to maximise the efficient processing of passengers and goods. The challenge is to find an even balance between our infrastructure and the industry's needs," Maseko added.
Work is expected to be complete on the corridor by April this year.
Permission to use web site material
Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as:
- Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website
(www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency
(www.joburg.org.za)";
- If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original
article on this website;
- The name of the article's author is acknowledged;
-
The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill
in this brief online form).
Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 |
