Harare Airport operating at 20pc capacity

congestion at the airport during the Sanganai-Hlanganani World Travel and Tourism Africa Fair 2012 Business Exchange Forum yesterday.
“Harare International Airport is currently operating at 20 percent capacity. It’s basically an issue of systems and resources and there is need to improve these so as to provide effective service,” he said.
Zimbabwe has over 200 airports and aerodromes spread across the country, and Harare International Airport is the main hub. However, its operations have been affected by the poor performance of the economy.
Following a modernisation programme in 2001, the Harare International Airport’s terminal has a design capacity for 2,5 million passengers a year.
This means operating at full capacity the airport has adequate capacity to meet passenger traffic demand at least until the close of the current decade. 
Earlier projections by CAAZ indicated that passenger traffic would reach around 2,3 million annually by 2020, with an average annual growth rate for the period 2011 to 2020 expected to be about 9 percent.  
The CAAZ boss also said the “calibration issues” that had led to some evening flights being cancelled would be resolved in two weeks’ time.
“No flights have been cancelled. South African Airways has stopped evening flights but have maintained their three flights a day.
“We expect that in a fortnight or so, we should have sorted out the issue, which is one of calibration,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Chawota has also indicated that Air Zimbabwe is planning to resume daily flights, starting with local routes before servicing regional and international routes at a later date.
He was, however, unwilling to give any timelines.