Celebrating its 30th anniversary, Airports Company South Africa has highlighted key milestones it has achieved since its inception in 1993.

“Our ultimate goal is to establish connections to every major African city, thus diversifying our international source market portfolio and supporting Africa’s broader regional integration objectives in line with the Abuja Treaty of 1991,” said Acsa CEO, Mpumi Mpofu.

Acsa manages nine airports, including OR Tambo, Cape Town and King Shaka International Airports.

Crucial gateway during significant events

Mpofu pointed out that Acsa’s airports served as crucial gateways, connecting South Africa to the world and facilitating travel for millions of foreign and domestic tourists each year. Its role, however, has never been as crucial as during the period when the eyes of the world have been on the country.

“This was particularly the case during events such as the Africa Cup of Nations, which South Africa won, the FIFA World Cup, the Rugby World Cup and many other international events held in our country. The eyes of the world will once again be on South Africa as it hosts dignitaries and heads of state attending the BRICS summit in August this year.”

Mpofu noted that Acsa aligned with the goals of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement, which – according to the Economic Commission – is expected to double air traffic and airfreight volumes on the continent from 2.3 million tonnes to 4.5 million tonnes by 2030.

Digitalising passenger experiences

In recent years, Acsa has also implemented several technology projects in line with its core strategic focus to digitalise the passenger experience, the airport environment and Acsa’s operational processes.

“We are currently busy with several initiatives that will harness the power of artificial intelligence – and robotics to drive self-service functionality through the various touchpoints at Acsa’s airports,” said Mpofu.

Acsa is also looking to introduce a biometrics-driven border control system in a joint project with the Department of Home Affairs. The project will focus on security processing systems that use facial recognition capabilities or biometric information embedded in a bar code in each passenger’s passport.

Transition through COVID

Mpofu noted that Acsa’s resilience and the robustness of its operations allowed it to survive the global COVID-19 pandemic that nearly destroyed the world’s aviation industry.

“Our sector was in complete ruins. In fact, there was no sector. But as the company’s leadership, we knew we were responsible for getting the sector and company out of the doldrums. We placed stringent measures and made very difficult decisions to keep our doors open.

“To do so we had to develop and adopt our Recover and Sustainability Strategy, which involves the diversification of our aeronautical business model to include new and enhanced service offerings, the review of airport authority functions that have previously been outsourced to external providers, and an intensified focus on airport development to create larger and more diversified economic hubs with airports at their centre,” she explained.