This was confirmed by headhonchos at the Gauteng Air Access stakeholder session held at SAA Aviation Museum, Germiston on Tuesday.
The fundamental purpose of the network is to enhance air service connectivity between Gauteng City through O.R Tambo International Airport (ORTIA) and Lanseria International Airport (LIA) supporting airports in the province and global getaways.
The Gauteng Air Access Network (GAAN) is also expected to lead the province’s air service development and active routes growth as part of the broader drive to connect Africa’s air services for growth and global reach.
MEC for Economic Development in Gauteng, Tasneem Motara in her opening speech, indicated that Vaal, will soon have its own airport, although no tangible deadlines were confirmed.
“As part of economic zone development strategy of the department and promotion of air access in Gauteng, we are considering developing an airport in the region of Vaal. This would help create much needed jobs, directly or indirectly in that area, and other economical benefits associated with it.
By so doing, this would help ease the traffic both at OR Tambo International and Lanseria Airports, respectively,” she said.
The MEC also confirmed direct fly-route from SA to Sao Paulo (Brazil) as part of cultural exchanges between the two nations.
Since September is Tourism Month- the air access contributes billions into the economic growth of the province and country- since Gauteng is known as Aerotropolis zone.
Between June 2022 and September 2023, 6 airline routes have been launched, with 2 returning after many years. During the 2-year pandemic outbreak -flights and travel restrictions were imposed that resulted in job losses in Gauteng.
The out-going board chairperson of GTA, Judy Nokwedi, says the key mandate is to amplify air transport in SA and in Africa.
“Our job is to create a demand and reposition the brand Gauteng to the world through air transport,” says GTA boss Sthembiso ‘Sthe’ Dlamini.
Adventure, entertainment, Golf and tourism all demand air access and in Gauteng, we have internationally recognised airports to cater for such markets, thus its upon us to keep repositioning ourselves to compete globally, says Dlamini, who also stressed they support the idea of development of a new airport in the Vaal.
On product owners, Dlamini stressed that GTA, has launched tourism visitor App to help product owners, associations and anyone to access for any programmes and safety monitors, etc.
In October 2021, the Gauteng Air Access Network added new partners including the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency (GGDA), Board of Airline Representatives (BARSA), Airlines Association of Southern Africa (AASA) and Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA).
The reconfigured committee pledged to strengthen the destination’s connectivity with key regional and international source markets through airline route development, strategic partnerships and plans to reclaim O R Tambo’s hub status and expand the airlines and routes served by Lanseria International Airport.
As part of private sector investment TBCSA, through its Tourism Marketing South Africa (TOMSA) Collaboration Fund has granted the (GAAN) R5 million to increase the number of air routes servicing OR Tambo International Airport and Lanseria International Airport.
The funds will be used to promote the opportunities to increase air routes and incentivize airlines to choose OR Tambo and Lanseria International Airports to increase the visitors numbers to Gauteng.
Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa -TBCSA chief executive said, “As the tourism sector we are mindful that a lot of our work is enabled by aviation. As part of our goal to increase and reach our international arrivals target, we need to ensure that there is sufficient connectivity through national air access”.
This will allow ease of travel for our international visitors and around domestic airports. Therefore, our R5 million-rand contribution to Gauteng Tourism speaks to that goal,” said Tshivhengwa.
Representatives from Lanseria Airport, SAA and ACSA also attended.
One would have expected the issue of controversial eVisa would be top on the agenda as well but that was not the case.
Top image (R5m smile, all aboard. From left- GP MEC Economic Dev Tasneem Motara, outgoing GTA board chairperson Judy Nokwedi, Tshifhiwa “Moreki” Tshivhengwa -TBCSA chief executive and GTA boss Sthe Dlamini at the Gauteng Air Access stakeholder session held at SAA Aviation Museum, Germiston on Tuesday).
