Durban International Airport: Map

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Durban International Airport , formerly Louis Botha Airport, is located in Durban

, South Africa. The runway is shared with AFB Durban

General

The airport is the smallest of South Africa's three declared international airport gateways (after Johannesburg

and Cape Town

), with a single north-south runway bordered by the Umlazi Canal to the north and the industrial suburb of Prospecton to the south. The airport is accessible from the N2 and M4 freeways.

Durban has seen a decline in international traffic over the years. British Airways ended it 4 times weekly direct service from London in 1999. Air India terminated service to both Durban and Johannesburg. For a short period of time Singapore Airlines was the only airline offering intercontinental flights from Durban. Presently, a large majority of international airlines serving South Africa fly via Johannesburg

. Durban suffers from relatively low international passenger numbers, and a runway that is too short for a fully-laden Boeing 747 to take off. Ironically, Durban's sea level location means that, were a suitable runway available, a large jet could carry both a full load of passengers and fuel, something that is precluded by Johannesburg's high altitude.

In fiscal year 2007 (April 2007-March 2008), the airport served nearly 4.4 million passengers.

Decommissioning and new airport

Scheduled flights from Durban International Airport.

Plans to move the airport to La Mercy

(30 km north of central Durban) were proposed and shelved numerous times between the 1970s and 2007. Final approval for King Shaka International

(KSIA) was given in 2007, and construction began in September 2007. KSIA is expected to be complete in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

When KSIA is operational, the existing airport will be decommissioned. Durban International is located on a large parcel of flat land in the Durban South Industrial Basin, which is already home to much of the city's heavy industry. Given Durban's generally very hilly terrain, such a large, flat parcel is ideal for future industrial development, port expansion, or both.

Building KSIA will, it is hoped, stimulate international tourism to Durban, South Africa's third largest metropolitan area. However, according to the draft tourism documents prepared for the new airport's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), no new international airlines have committed to flying to Durban, even with a longer runway. The airlines surveyed indicated that there is not yet sufficient passenger demand for direct long-distance international flights to the city, and that if such demand existed, they would already fly to the existing airport, even withouth a longer runway. Despite this assessment, however, KSIA can be justified solely in terms of projected passenger growth, almost all of which will come from domestic routes. The existing airport site is suitable for expansion, but only at tremendous cost, and is able only to handle projected growth up to 2035, not beyond.

Airlines and destinations

Domestic

International

Accidents and incidents

On June 30, 1962, a Douglas DC-4 (registration ZS-BMH) operating a scheduled South African Airways flight from Johannesburg to Durban collided with a South African Air Force Harvard trainer. The DC-4 made a successful emergency landing with 46 passengers and 5 crew; the Harvard trainer crashed with its crew of two parachuting to safety. The DC-4 was subsequently repaired.
On December 28, 1973, a Douglas DC-3 (registration ZS-DAK) operated by Executive Funds lost both engines when turning onto final approach and ditched in the Indian Ocean . One passenger drowned out of the 22 passengers and 3 crew.
On June 18, 2008, a British Airways Boeing 737-400 (operated by Comair), operating as Flight 6203 from Johannesburg , skidded off the runway at Durban International Airport while landing under adverse weather conditions. The aircraft was reported to have hit a wet patch on the tarmac, causing it to skid and resulting in the right landing-gear becoming embedded in the surrounding earth. The incident caused the closure of the airport for both arrivals and departures for several hours. All 87 passengers and six crew members escaped without serious injury.
On September 24, 2009, Airlink Flight 8911 crashed in the suburb of Merebank shortly after takeoff from Durban International Airport, injuring its crew of three and one person on the ground.