Hosea Kutako Airport expansion nears completion
The short-term expansion project to address the current congestion and ICAO compliance shortcomings at the Hosea Kutako International Airport (HKIA) is well on track for completion, the Namibia Airports Company announced.
While the project is set for completion at the end of September, the specialist equipment, such as the baggage handling and reclaim will be commissioned and operationalized towards the end of October 2021.
The expansion project, which kicked off on 23 September 2019, 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.
The project is aimed at doubling the handling capacity of the airport to accommodate increased passenger movements up until 2030. These include but are not limited to the increase in check-in counters to a total of 18 counters with additional five self-service check-in kiosks; an increase in the departure security screening points from two to five, the baggage reclaim facility increase from two to five amongst others.
The project has also accommodated 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.
On arrival, the new departure hall, as an extension to the existing terminal will also see increased space for movement and 17 immigrations counters as compared to the current eight while the baggage reclaims hall will be expanded and be fitted with three modern carousels, to make them 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.
There are also at least four airlines, including South African Airways (SAA), that have shown interest in resuming flights to Windhoek, and the Namibia Airports Company said it is currently in discussions with them on the modalities of re-start.
