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Zambia Airport recorded positive growth in 2018

Zambia Airports Corporation Limited (ZACL) says it recorded a positive growth for the year 2018.
The Corporation says the general passenger movement for the period January to December, 2018 for all four international airports namely Kenneth Kaunda, Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula, Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe and Mfuwe International Airports was 1,931,827 compared to 1,748,200 in 2017 resulting in an overall growth of 10.5%.
ZACL Communications and Brand Manager Mweembe Sikaulu this can further be broken into 374,479 for domestic passengers and 1,557,348 for international passenger movements.
Ms Sikaulu tells Money FM News that domestic movements grew at a significant 22.7% while international movement also grew positively at 7.9%.
“When compared to the same period last year, there were percentage growths in 2018 of 10.7%, 12.6%, 7% and 10.5% for Kenneth Kaunda, Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe, Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula and Mfuwe International Airports respectively. Kenneth Kaunda International Airport was the best performing airport as it had the largest number of passengers being the main gateway in the country. The airport handled 70% of total general passenger movements in 2018. Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe and Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula International Airports handled 15% and 13% of total passengers respectively. The smallest airport, Mfuwe International Airport carried 2% of the total traffic,” she said.
She adds that ZACL also recorded a positive growth during the fourth quarter of 2018.
Ms Sikaulu states that the Corporation saw passenger numbers increase by 4.2% when compared with the same period in 2017.
“Records indicate that during the last quarter of the year, a total of 476,181 passengers passed through the four international airports as compared to 456,821 in 2017. In December 2018, Turkish Airlines introduced two weekly direct flights into Europe,” she adds.
“Proflight Zambia continued in its use of bigger capacity aircraft servicing both SMKIA and HMNIA. The aircraft types are a Fokker 70 with a seat capacity of about 73 and a Dash 8 with a seat capacity of about 50.”
She says increased passenger uplifts by RwandAir resulting from increased frequencies and continued use of bigger aircraft when the current period is compared to the same period last year.
She adds that effective May 2018, RwandAir introduced an Airbus 330 on the Kigali-Lusaka-Johannesburg routes, with a seat capacity of 270 while maintaining other aircrafts such as the Boeing737, the Bombardier CRJ (Canadair Regional Jet) and a Bombardier Q400 on the route. This resulted in increased capacity on the route.
“The recently introduced flight between Lusaka and Kalumbila by Kafue Transport has stimulated domestic traffic. Increased competition between Mahogany Air and Proflight Zambia has resulted in the reduction of ticket fares hence attracting new travellers on the domestic front,” said Ms Sikaulu.
She notes that there have also been increased weekly frequencies by Proflight Zambia, Mahogany Air and Malawian Airlines at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport from 4 to 6 flights during the course of the year.
“The limited bed capacity in the tourist towns of Livingstone and Mfuwe continues to adversely affect traffic to the tourist airports, particularly international tourists in peak season.” The relatively expensive accommodation rates are also having adverse effects when compared to other similar catchment areas,” she said.
She further notes that the lack of a low cost carrier is a factor as Fastjet Airlines has managed to pull most of the South African Traffic into Victoria Falls Town (Zimbabwe) due to a combined cheaper option of air fare and accommodation.
Ms Sikaulu has disclosed that South Africa remains the biggest market for the Livingstone and Victoria Falls region.


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