Bigger aircraft to Ondangwa
Standing are from the left, Toska Sem, Strategic Executive: Business Strategy NAC, Courage Silombela, acting Strategic Executive: Projects, IT & Engineering Services, NAC, Lukie van Staden, Aurecon country manager and Johan Kaber, an Aurecon director. Seated are the Airports Company’s acting CEO, Tamer El-Kallawi and Liu Jie, a director of China State Construction Engineering Corporation.
The upgraded runway will be able to accommodate much larger aircraft, for instance, Air Namibia’s existing fleet of Airbus 319’s will then be able to land there. This upgrade also improves the operational advantage for the national airliner, Air Namibia.
Last week Friday, the Namibia Airports Company (NAC) signed an agreement with project engineers, Aurecon, and contractor, China State Construction Engineering Corporation, for the upgrade of the Ondangwa Runway Rehabilitation Project at an investment of N$208 million. The project started this week.
Airports Company acting CEO, Tamer El-Kallawi said, “we cannot wait for completion of this job, which is envisaged for July 2016. It will mean that the Ondangwa Airport runway will be upgraded from Category 3C to Category 4C and this in turn means that bigger aircraft such as the Airbus A319 will be able to land there. The runway will be widened to 45 meters and 2.8 kilometres in length. This is a great step for us”.
El-Kallawi added that the second priority area of the NAC Strategic Plan focusses on the rehabilitation and upgrade of airport infrastructure and this in turn would help to position Namibia as a key aviation hub. “To do this we are strategically positioning ourselves by upgrading our airport infrastructure to meet this need.”
The new Ondangwa Airport terminal is almost complete and expected to become operational soon. The bowsers have also been refurbished to serve other African airlines which refuel at Ondangwa Airport.
