Good morning. If you’ve been travelling this festive season and used OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, you may have encountered a delay with your flight after the airport suffered refuelling issues that began on December 28.
Many domestic and international travellers were left stranded at the airport with 41 flights affected by the refuelling issue. Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) said via a statement it was experiencing “challenges with fuel supply from the storage facility to the main hydrant system.”
After conducting an oversight visit to the airport on Monday, transport minister Fikile Mbalula said the issue had been resolved and was due to a technical glitch in the storage facility.
ACSA officials admit they were caught out by refuelling issues
At a media briefing held in conjunction with Mbalula’s visit to the airport on Monday, senior ACSA management admitted their risk planning was woefully inadequate in dealing with the refuelling issue.
Acsa CEO Mpumi Mpofu defended her management team and said they worked as quickly as possible to find a solution. The refuelling system is part of a major upgrade over the next 36 months. Acsa group executive for strategy and sustainability Charles Shilowa said covid-19 had knocked their plans for infrastructure development off course but that he would shift more funding into the refurbishment of existing infrastructure rather than on new capex.
OR Tambo is ready to service travellers returning from their holidays
Mbalula assured the media at the briefing that the airport would be able to deal with the influx of passengers expected this week, who will be returning home from their festive season holidays.
He said traffic volumes had increased at OR Tambo with the airport handling close to 300 departing air traffic movements a day, both international and domestic, while the airport’s busiest days were the 14th, 15th, and 16th of December last year.
What’s happening in the markets?
At 06:01, the rand was trading flat at R16.94 against the greenback after it was around R16.95 at 5 pm yesterday.
Asian markets are mixed with the Hong Kong Hang Seng (2.30%) and Shanghai Composite (0.32%) in the green while the Nikkei is currently 1.39% lower.
Over in Europe, the major indexes all closed higher with Germany’s DAX (0.80%), France’s CAC40 (0.44%) and the UK’s FTSE 100 (1.37%) in the green.
In the US, the inverse has happened with the Nasdaq (-0.76%), Dow Jones (-0.033%), and S&P 500 (-0.40%) all in the red.
Here’s what else you need to know:
Top News
- R350,000 for round of golf with Ramaphosa — ‘We don’t have money, we raise money,’ says ANC’s Mbalula – Daily Maverick
- Phala Phala won’t be discussed at conclusion of ANC conference, says Fikile Mbalula – News24
- Breakthrough in Poppy’s Restaurant 2020 New Year’s Day shooting – Times LIVE
SA Business
- Big petrol price drop coming this week – but South Africans are still under pressure – BusinessTech
- South Africa’s narrower trade surplus bodes ill for the rand, but cooling oil price may help – Daily Maverick
- Gauteng misses another e-toll scrapping deadline – Business Day
Global Business
