Hosea Kutako airport expansion project nears completion

THE N$250 million Hosea Kutako International Airport (HKIA) congestion alleviation project completion date is set for the end of this month.

Specialist equipment, such as baggage handling and reclaim, will be commissioned and operationalised towards the end of next month.

In a media statement released on Sunday, the marketing officer of the Namibia Airports Company (NAC), Dan Kamati, said the airport expansion project, which is a short-term project to address the current congestion and International Civil Aviation Organisation compliance shortcomings is well on track with slight delays experienced, particularly last year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic-induced health-related restrictions.

“It covers areas such as the farewell, check-in and restaurant, arrivals and baggage handling, new departure hall, security and immigration as well as customs areas.”

The project also included the expansion of facilities on the terminals for domestic, VIP and VVIP travels, he said.

Kamati added that Nexus Contractors are the main contractors working with other 100% Namibian-owned sub-contracting and professional consultancy companies.

NAC provided N$95 million of the project with the rest coming from the treasury.

The project is aimed at doubling the handling capacity of the airport to accommodate increased passenger movements until 2030. These include an increase in check-in counters to 18, an additional five self-service check-in kiosks, an in increase in departure security screening points from two to five, and an increase in baggage reclaim facility from two to five.

The project has also accommodated an increase in the departure immigration counters from the current three to seven counters while the departure hall will be increased in size to accommodate the growing passenger movement at the airport, Kamati said.

On the arrivals side, the new departure hall will also see increased space for movement and 17 immigration counters up from the current eight, while the baggage reclaim hall will be expanded and fitted with three modern carousels, to make them five.

Airlink, FlyWestair, Ethiopian Airlines and Eurowings Discover are calling at HKIA now and more airlines are expected to return and increase frequencies, he added.

There are also at least four airlines, including South African Airways, that have shown interest in resuming flights to Windhoek, and we are currently in discussions with them on the modalities of re-start.

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