After a heavy loss of USD26.8million during the 2010/2011 Financial Year, The Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) announced yesterday that it had made a profit of USD22million for the 2011/2012 Financial Year, though it is unlikely that any South African airlines will be joining in the celebrations, as the main factor behind ACSA's return to profitability - a 70% hike in its tariffs - is one of the reasons why 1Time is in Business Rescue and Comair Limited posted no dividend for the same Financial Year.
On the passenger front, whilst air traffic movements
dropped slightly by 0.2% to 541'000, the group's airports, as a collective whole, processed 17.9million departing passengers, a 3%
growth on 2011.
ACSA's Upington Airport (A Naude) "ACSA airports achieved utilisations of between 52% and 74% during the 2012 financial year with Bloemfontein Airport achieving the highest percentage utilisation and Upington Airport the lowest, based on passenger handling capacity.
OR Tambo International Airport, in Johannesburg, had the highest passenger throughput of 19-million people, achieving a 68% utilisation of its 28-million passenger handling capacity.
Source [ACSA]Cape Town International Airport achieved 61% utilisation with the second-highest passenger throughput of 8.5-million, and Durban’s King Shaka Airport handled just over 5-million passengers in the same period (67% utilisation) making it the third-busiest airport."
Additionally, a 7% increase in revenue to USD290million from non-aeronautical sources such as retail (33%), advertising
(8%), parking (18%), car rental (7%), property rentals (23%) and other
commercial ventures (11%) helped the company to finance its costs of USD240million against a USD1.94billion debt during the period. This strong performance has led the company to consider further diversifying its income streams, given the impact of rising global fuel costs on the sustainability and growth of international air traffic.
Looking to the future, the company is placing its bets on a 20 year, USD9.2billion concession it won, in partnership with the Brazilian Company Invepar, for the expansion, maintenance and operation of Guarulhos International Airport, in São Paulo, Brazil. With Brazil set to host the 2013 FIFA
Confederations Cup, the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, ACSA is hoping that this gamble will prove to be its boon, and not its bane, in the long run.
