Durban's new airport opens for service ahead of World Cup

May 1, 2010, 10:36 GMT

Johannesburg - A new 7.2-billion-rand (986-million-dollar) airport went into service in South Africa's third-largest city of Durban Saturday - a little over a month before the start of the World Cup.

Commercial airlines began landing for the first time at King Shaka International Airport on Saturday morning.

The former Durban International Airport was closed to passenger airlines on Friday night following the last flight from Johannesburg.

Airlines based at Durban International moved their planes overnight to the new airport, where airport and airline staff had been getting ready for the switchover for several weeks.

The move went off without hiccups by mid-morning, Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) reported.

'It's an emotional day. We did it!' ACSA's assistant general manager Bongiwe Pityi declared.

The new airport, which is located 35 kilometres north of the Indian Ocean port city in KwaZulu-Natal province, has been built to to process up to 7.5 million passengers a year and accommodate new generation aircraft like the Airbus A380.

King Shaka, which President Jacob Zuma will officially open on May 8, is the first new airport in the past 50 years in South Africa. It is named after the Zulu chief Shaka, a famous warrior who ruled the powerful Zulu kingdom in the early 1800s.

ACSA say the old airport site will first be handed over to the South African Air Force to use as a military operating base for the June 11-July 11 World Cup. After the World Cup, the old airport will be decommissioned.

Durban will host several games during the World Cup, including a semi-final.

King Shaka airport is not without its critics. South Africa's second-largest airline, Kulula, had criticized it as wasteful and likely to push up ticket prices, because landing taxes at the new airport are higher.

Airlines and car rental companies have spent millions on moving their operations to the new site.

SAA said the move had cost it about 35 million rand (4.8 million dollars).