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President Jacob Zuma looks at a life-size statue of the ANCs founding president, John Langalibalele Dube, which he unveiled at Dube TradePort on March 8, 2012. Dubes daughter, Lulu Dube, holds on to the statues coat, while Premier Zweli Mkhize, right, and members of his cabinet look on. Picture: Jacques Naude
President Jacob Zuma challenged the KwaZulu-Natal government to “up its game” in marketing King Shaka International Airport and developing it into SA’s secondary hub airport during the official opening of Dube TradePort on Thursday.
“This airport bears the name of a great leader, innovator, military and political strategist who is respected and admired worldwide. For this reason, it has to conquer, expand and grow, like its namesake… But something is missing… you have not marketed King Shaka sufficiently. The time has come to think of this airport as SA’s secondary hub and not just as a regional feeder airport. It should aggressively market itself as a key entry point for international routes,” said Zuma.
The provincial government and Dube TradePort have been fighting a losing battle to get SAA, the national carrier, to re-establish international flights out of Durban. The government is also furious at SAA’s move to drop its Durban-Cape Town route in 2011.
KZN has also failed to lure international carriers to Durban’s new airport, with only Emirates operating a daily flight to Dubai. King Shaka International faces a further setback: Air Mauritius announced last month that it planned to withdraw flights to Durban from October.
But Zuma had some good news. He said the airport was set to become the regional hub airport for SA Express flights to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries. The move was aimed at using SA airports to promote “the African agenda” and economic growth in the region.
Despite failing to secure new international routes out of Durban, Zuma said King Shaka airport was growing and would surpass the 5 million passenger mark in 2012. -The Mercury
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