Don’t Blame the New Airport
Against all expectations (mine included), this country has pulled off the World Cup. The only grit in this particular tub of Vaseline was the fiasco at the King Shaka airport on semifinal night. All sorts of fingers have been pointed in various directions but I wouldn’t be surprised that it was one individual who was the cause of a thousand or so fans missing their big night.
FIFA has four planes that have been used to get them around SA. Then come the celebs - Ms. Theron et al. The plan was to get this type of aircraft to drop passengers off at the VIP section away from the main terminal. Possibly though, this individual had a rush of blood to some part of his anatomy and realised that he wouldn’t be seen with said celebs and have his mug taken with them if they disembarked at the agreed spot so he gave permission for them to park at the main terminal. Whereupon eight of the 15 skybridges were bunged up with celeb/VIP planes, all duly locked tight.
Said skybridges are designated for scheduled aircraft only - all coming in to their designated skybridge.
So, ACSA has some ’splainin’ to do because the fault falls firmly at their door - not as a shortcoming of the new airport. The R400,000 is going to go nowhere to recompense those passengers that had shelled out big bucks for the trip of a lifetime. It should be ten times that amount. I hope someone takes ACSA to task and that the individual to blame for this fiasco is dealt with.