Great effort to re-open runway at Cape Town International Airport

13 October 2023

Statement by the City's Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth, Alderman James Vos

I must commend the Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) crew who sprang into action and worked speedily and thoroughly to clean the spillage and re-open the runway at Cape Town International Airport by early Friday morning after it was closed due to leaking hydraulic fluid from an aircraft. The airport’s management team deserve further praise for getting on top of operations matters. 

My thanks also to the City of Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services who assisted with the clean-up and to the incredible team at Cape Town Tourism who worked to help around 600 affected passengers with overnight accommodation at nearby hotels.

This situation has made clear the urgency and importance of additional runway capacity at the airport.

This coming summer season, we are set to welcome 215 flights per week bringing thousands of visitors from 30 destinations across the globe. The City and its partners are on a mission to drive increased flights to bring more travellers who will boost employment and investment in Cape Town. But it is critically important that we have the necessary infrastructure to accommodate these additional flights, passengers, and cargo.

We must recognise the huge value of the aviation economy to Cape Town. In 2022, the arrival of 605 000 foreign passengers injected R24,3 billion into the Western Cape economy while supporting 10 600 jobs.

An expansion of the airport will further make a meaningful contribution to the regional economy and the City’s Enterprise and Investment Department is ready to work with the airport team to maximise the benefits of this expansion for local businesses and communities.

In fact, the Airports Company of South Africa (Acsa) has already done a great deal of planning on developments at CTIA in terms of development approvals and external communications. Now is not the time to lose momentum. I have written to the Acsa chief executive officer to make a case for this project to be placed back on their radar. Let’s work to get this upgrade project over the line.

Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office