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Reminds me of Bhisho twenty five or so years back.TheGreenGoblin wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 3:46 pmThe Story Behind The World's Emptiest International Airport
WITH an air-conditioned office, 28 staff and a R786 000-a-year budget, the Bhisho Airport manager, Maki Ndingaye, is missing only one thing: aeroplanes.
Not one single scheduled commercial or public flight has arrived at his airport in more than 10 years, since Ciskei International Airlines collapsed. His staff, especially the four-man team in the 30m-high air control tower, are bored.
“They wait and wait and wait and wait. It’s terrible,” Ndingaye said this week from his office overlooking the 2.4km runway outside King William’s Town in the Eastern Cape.
“But they must stay there [in the air traffic control tower], otherwise it’s misconduct. They play cards,” said Ndingaye.
The bizarre ghost airport — once the “international gateway” to the Ciskei — has again sparked controversy in the cash-strapped Eastern Cape, where the Transport Department is accused of wasting millions on a white elephant investment.
When the Sunday Times visited the sprawling airport complex this week, the administrative staff were at their desks, staring out of the tinted-glass windows. The only thing on the runway was a large crow, pecking at a dead lizard. Outside the once grand “International” arrivals hall, swallows were nesting in the rafters next to the main entrance. The hall, inside, remains virtually untouched since the day it was built in 1988. Large X-ray machines, still functional, stand unplugged next to padlocked sliding doors that have started leaking rainwater. A neat row of check-out counters stands empty. A dusty departures board advertises a flight from Durban to George.
“The equipment still works,” said Ndingaye. “To me, if I was in charge, I’d make the place work.” He said the facility even had a trained emergency fire crew at the ready. “They are very frustrated,” said Ndingaye.
He said the airport was sometimes used by jets ferrying senior politicians such as the President, the deputy president and the premier.
In a written answer to questions raised in the Eastern Cape provincial legislature last month, the Transport MEC, Thobile Mhlahlo, confirmed there were no scheduled flights using the airport. “It’s only private and chartered aircraft that make use of this airport and very occasionally,” said Mhlahlo.
He said the Department of Transport was mandated to restructure the airport via a public-private partnership. The department had called for tenders, said Mhlahlo.
“The response was positive. However, none of them could be awarded the tender due to the fact that all had costed their proposals well beyond what the department could afford.”
The Democratic Alliance spokesman for Transport and Public Works in the Eastern Cape, Pine Pienaar, described the airport situation as “spooky”.
“The staff are just sitting there doing nothing. They’ve got new desks and new computers but there’s nothing for them to do.
“At least get rid of it or subsidise it for somebody else to take over,” said Pienaar.
Mhlahlo said: “The Department of Transport staff, which cannot claim any specialised expertise in airport management, manages the airport and there are no scheduled flights.
“The airport is regarded highly in terms of airport ratings and it has acquired an international classification because of the state of the infrastructure. Its airstrip can accommodate a Boeing 747.”
Mhlahlo said there was growing interest in the facility from various individuals, institutions and companies.
“The executive council has resolved that this airport should be restructured along the public-private partnership line,” he said.
The Provincial Finance MEC, Billy Nel, hoped the airport could be utilised: “It’s costing us and we’re wasting money. We need to be inventive. The government should throw it in as a freebie for a year or two to get investment there,” said Nel, adding that the provincial government was also trying to breathe new life into Dimbaza — another ambitious apartheid-era development outside Bhisho.
Bhisho Airport, once known as “Sebe’s Folly”, was opened by the former Ciskei President, Lennox Sebe, in February 1988 to fulfil the homeland’s dream of having a gateway to the world.
Sebe bought two ageing passenger jets at huge expense: a 146-seater Convair 990 and a 46-seater Convair 880. The 46-seater now sits on Billy Nel’s tennis court and has been converted into a restaurant. Said Nel: “A lot of people after a few drinks want me to start the engines.”