South Africa’s immigration authorities have warned airlines that the queuing chaos at OR Tambo may well get worse.
Treasury’s focus on cutting government expenditure means there are no plans to increase the number of staff who are now required to also collect biometric data. The Department of Home Affairs has also now had to cut transporting staff to the airport to reduce costs and this is expected to exacerbate the situation.
South African travellers departing the country are now also affected as there is no separation of foreign and SA passport holders on departure.
A leading travel industry figure, Wally Gaynor, MD of Club Travel said he had just had “a most horrific experience” where it took 45 minutes to get through security because there was no space for people to stand on the other side of security. Once his hand luggage was scanned there was no room to move forward anymore.
David Frost, CEO of Satsa, has called on Home Affairs to only capture biometrics of people entering the country if they require a visa and did not apply in person. He said that until DHA had sufficient staff, they should not be capturing the biometrics of every foreigner using the airports.
Although the DHA spokesman has said the capture of biometrics is being done for security purposes, government tourism statistics show that 79% of the foreign travellers in July crossed SA’s land borders, where there is no collection of biometric data.
Airlines have had to accommodate passengers in hotels who have missed flights as a result of the delays at OR Tambo International Airport.
June Crawford, Chief Executive of Barsa said that, aside from the inconvenience to passengers because of the disruption caused by the long queues and waiting times, the airlines were bearing the cost of the current congestion. “African and international airlines delivering passengers to South Africa, in some instances, are having to put their passengers into hotels overnight, although they are not required to do so,” said Crawford. She said passengers had taken up to three hours to clear immigration.
Michi Messner, Regional Manager Africa for Qantas, said they had only had delays from last week where customers were missing their domestic connection flights. “At the moment we are covering the costs for the customers, however we may change that should the situation worsen,” said Messner. They have had to rebook customers on a later connection on a daily basis.
Comair told Tourism Update that it was aware of the delays experienced by customers travelling internationally into and out of OR Tambo International Airport. “We’re assisting customers who miss their connections by rebooking them on later flights or providing accommodation where necessary,” said Susan Van Der Ryst, Corporate Communications Manager at Comair. “The impact of this on our business is yet to be established but we’re participating in the task team that’s working to address the situation and in ongoing contact with all stakeholders.”
A member of the industry, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Tourism Update, that they had received complaints from customers, which had affected South Africa’s tourism brand. “We’ve had comment from customers saying that if they knew this was how the immigration situation was here in South Africa, they would’ve chosen the alternative destination that they had in mind,” said the source.
“It has been necessary for baggage to be taken off the belts to make room for the next flights so the collection of baggage is also disrupted,” added Crawford.
By Dave Marsh and Kim Emmanuel
