The N$250 million Hosea Kutako International Airport (HKIA) congestion alleviation project’s completion date is set for the end of September 2021.
In a statement, the Namibia Airport Company (NAC) said the specialist equipment, such as the baggage handling and reclaim, will be commissioned and operationalised towards the end of October 2021.
“The project at HKIA, which is short-term project to address the current congestion and ICAO compliance shortcomings, is well on track, with slight delays experienced due to Covid-19 pandemic, particularly in 2020, due 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 terminal for domestic, VIP and VVIP travels,” explained NAC marketing officer Dan Kamati.
Nexus Contractors are the main contractors, and are joined by other 100% Namibian-owned subcontracting and professional consultancy companies.
NAC provided N$95 million of the project with the rest coming from treasury.
The project is aimed at doubling the handling capacity of the airport to accommodate increased passenger movements up until 2030.
These include but is not limited to the increase in check-in counters to 18 counters with additional five self-service check-in kiosks, an increase in the departure security screening points from two to five and baggage reclaim facilities increase from two to five, among others.
The project also accommodates 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.
The new departure hall, as an extension to the existing terminal, Kamati added, will also see increased space for movement and 17 immigration counters, compared to the current eight, while the baggage reclaim hall will be expanded and be fitted with three modern carousels, to bring the total to five.
“Airlink, FlyWestair, Ethiopian Airlines and Eurowings Discover are calling at HKIA at the moment – and more airlines are expected to return and increase frequencies,” he stated.
According to him, there are also at least four airlines, including South African Airways (SAA), that have shown interest in resuming flights to Windhoek, and NAC are currently in discussions with them on the modalities of the restart.