Building at KSIA to begin late this year
According to The Mercury (a Durban daily newspaper) construction work on the much talked about King Shaka International Airport (KSIA) 30km north of Durban is due to begin at the end f this year, and will be completed by 2009. The airport will be incorporated into the Dube tax free trade port, and will feature a 3km long runway which should see the return of European carriers to Durban. Development at Durban International will carry on until then said an ACSA spokesperson with a terminal expansion and parkade on the cards. Durban Int'l will close when KSIA opens in 2009. I'll believe it when I see photos of the building, this has been talked about for 25 years now, all the same I hope it happens!!! Sean

I love that name!!! King Shaka International ......... it is really cool and so African :D It would be a wonderful development for Durban should it materialize.

Will SAA , Comair , 1Time etc move from Louis Botha Intermational (current airport) to KSIA? -SA006

They will have to when it closes... :wink: :D It sounds quite good, but as you said, the plans exist since ages. But it would be nice indeed to have an airport in Durban, which is not dominated by a surrounding industrial area... Cheers, Felix

Durban Int'l is built on a reclaimed wetland, so plans are to reflood the existing site of Durban Int'l once the airport has closed and create a much needed container terminal for the already overworked Durban Harbour. There have been a couple of gripes about the distance from inner city Durban, but La Mercy (the site for KSIA) is only 15km north of Umhlanga - the place where most business have offices. It's all very well to put a 3km runway in place, but can Durban realistically sustain 5-6 weekly flights to LON (assuming SA, BA and VS each operate a flight or 2 a week)? I know 2010 is coming but thats going to be one month of business and the prospect of a white elephant is a dreaded, but realistic one. I spoke to a friend of mine who's mother works for KQ, she said that KQ looked at a possible DUR-NBO service. They wanted to appeal to the large Indian comunity in Durban to use NBO as a stopover en route to BOM, BKK, HKG etc but the demand was not there for a 2-3 x a week flight!!! Just my 2c. Sean

Hi dysan1, welcome to the forum!!! Why not sign up as a member - the more the merrier plus its free!!! Great news as far as KSIA goes - the rail links don't suprose me either considering the massive amount of freight that will be shipped to and from the iDube tradeport. It's also good to hear that the demand for int'l flights is there - guess my 2c was wrong :lol: Sean

Thanks Michael, am having a look at skyscrapercity as we speak - nice!!! Sean

Hi, can anybody tell me why the ICAO Code starts with "K"SIA, thought K would be for North-America (USA). I think South African airports begin with "F"ADN, "F"ACT or "F"AJS so why shouldn't it start with "F" :?: Greetings from germany Henrik

Hey Henrik. KSIA is not the official ICAO code at all, I'm sure when (I'm now sold as to the new airport happening, skyscrapercity.com is my new favourite website - Go Durban!!!) the relocation to King Shaka takes place the existing FADN/DUR (ICAO/IATA) code will be retained as Durban Int'l will be shut down and demolished. KSIA is an incorrect and slack abbreviation - just like KMIA (Kruger Mpumulanga Int'l - FAKN/MQP). Sean

Ok, thanks Sean for the hint :) Greetings from Germany Henrik

I've signed up, haven't posted anything yet though - still testing the water... Sean

Problem resolved!!! Thanks for trying hard to register. I wasn't aware of the problem, as the registering process was working without problems for a long time... Cheers, Felix

Hey its all sorted now :D :D :D will scan some of the king shaka plans asap, but i dont know how well they will come out, cos they are very large, and i will need to shrink them. From the design scheme i have seen, the buildings are to be very modern, more glass and steel than jozi, but with wooden zulu touches incorporated. Colour palate very neutral. ask more and i shall try to find :D ciao *Michael*

That would be awesome!!! As far as I know the design of the airport has not been seen by many, so it would be great to get a preview here at AfricaSpotter!!! Sean