When you ask Gavin Sayce — CEO of one of the largest, if not the largest privately owned airport in Africa, Lanseria International Airport (HLA/FALA) — what it takes to run the airport, he simply answers, “our can-do attitude.” Anything and everything can be done; just give them a little time and all the details.
On my recent trip to South Africa, I was privileged to be able to spend some time with the staff of this incredible airport to find out operationally how the airport is run and some insight into successes past and present.
Who would have thought that the grass strip airfield located north west of Johannesburg back in the early 1970’s would become the airport that it is today? It was initially considered in the early 1970’s based on the whim of two local aviation enthusiasts, Fanie Haacke and Abe Sher, who intended to build the “busiest airport in the country.” Their dream began to take shape in 1974 when construction was initiated on what was destined to be the only other internationally accredited airport in the area of Johannesburg following what was then known as Jan Smuts Airport, now known as OR Tambo International Airport. In 1975, Lanseria hosted Air Africa 1975, the premier event in African aviation and was known at the time as the African version of the Paris and Farnsborough air shows. Based on the success of this event, Lanseria was also chosen to host the same air show in 1977, 1979 and 1981.
In 1979, Lanseria became host to two squadrons of aircraft from the South African Air Force (SAAF) from 1979 until the closure of the base in 1991. Stationed at Lanseria were 4 Impala (Aermacchi MB-326) Squadron and 41 Reconnaissance Squadron using the South African developed Kudu aircraft before moving to Cessna Caravans. The SAAF museum also based its workshop at Lanseria in 1978 and displayed refurbished air force aircraft such as the Tiger Moth and Mirage F-1.
Lanseria has for a long time been the preferred destination for international guests, politicians, presidents and superstars. One of the more famous in South African history was Nelson Mandela who upon his release from prison in May 1990 flew to the new province of Gauteng and first set foot in the province at Lanseria.
Lanseria’s growth over the years has been constant due to the increased demands on the airport. In 2004, both runways that were operational at the airport at the time were lengthened and widened to accommodate larger aircraft, at the time the Boeing 737 and Airbus A319 fleets. In May 2010, it was again necessary to expand the airport, this time the terminal buildings and the domestic departure lounge, additional shops and restaurants as well as increased parking facilities were opened to accommodate the increase in scheduled passengers passing through the airport. In November 2013, the main runway (07/25) was again increased in size to accommodate larger aircraft such as the Boeing 757, 767 and A320s, and the parallel runway (06/24) was closed down. All through its operational years, Lanseria has remained a private airport, being sold to various private consortiums.
When Lanseria started with scheduled service in the early 2000s, the first few years yielded approximately 160,000 passengers per year traveling through Lanseria. In 2014, according to Marketing Manager Claudette Vianello, the airport is on track to pass the auspicious mark of 2 million passengers for the year, and this with two airlines, Mango and kulula.com running flights in and out of the airport a day. The two airlines operate regularly scheduled services to Cape Town and Durban.
In talking to Mike Christoph, Operations Manager at Lanseria, I managed to find out some more of the operational capabilities of the airport. The 9,996ft main runway (07/25) can handle large transport and commercial airliners including the military Boeing C-17 transport and Boeing 767-300 commercial aircraft, both of which currently frequent the airport. However, with a big smile on his face he added “If someone wants to bring a Boeing 777 into the airport, I’m sure we’ll find a way to accommodate it and service it to our usual standards”. The senior Operations Manager Charles Norval helped to develop procedures that has also provided significant fuel saving to the commercial airlines flying into Lanseria. The ex-South African Air Force Air Traffic Controller developed a descent procedure into the airport that since its inception has saved the commercial airlines large amounts of money in fuel savings. Gavin Sayce noted about this procedure that this is the normal way Lanseria staff are looking to always save their customers money when operating to the airport. “If we can save them money, it always makes it attractive for them to fly here,” Sayce noted.
One of the major attractions for commercial airlines currently flying into Lanseria or indeed wanting to fly into Lanseria is the way that the airport can save the commercial entities money. While the fuel prices are not always the lowest compared to OR Tambo International Airport, the staff cost savings certain are. “We provide all the staff to handle the aircraft, from the check-in counter staff to the baggage handlers to the refuellers, we do it all. All the airlines have to do is bring their aircraft,” Sayce noted. What this means to commercial airlines is that they only have to fly in and out of the airport with their passengers and not have to provide staff for anything else; Lanseria staff handles the rest. “For us, there are challenges too because our staff has to cross train on all the different systems that the airlines use, but its still a huge saving for the airlines,” Sayce added.
When I asked about additional commercial service and new airlines operating into Lanseria, Sayce noted that there are always ongoing negotiations. “We are always looking for new commercial service to Lanseria. We will always make it as attractive as possible to potential airlines, but it has to be profitable as well for them,” Sayce said. What does seem a good potential for Lanseria is the innovation of all the new airlines in Africa. Historically, when there were few airlines that operated in Africa, the major hubs like Johannesburg, Cairo and Nairobi would attract a great deal of passengers because they flew into the hubs from Europe or other African countries into order to travel somewhere else on the continent. With the advent of large airlines like Emirates and Qatar that are now flying into most African countries and also smaller airlines like Rwandair, Ethiopian and Kenya Airways flying to their own countries, the need for the hub type of services have disappeared. Lanseria is now able to attract the smaller airlines looking for cost effectiveness. With the cost savings that Lanseria can provide in the area of staffing, it can be an added incentive to the airlines looking to fly to the Johannesburg area.
The daily staple of Lanseria’s traffic with the exception of the commercial airlines it business jet, or biz-jet travel. There are a number of FBOs on the property, the largest being ExecuJet that handles 99% of the Lanseria biz-jet flights. Lanseria staff does also provide a large number of the FBO functions as well. It is not uncommon to see the ramp of the airport filled with all types and sizes of biz-jets at all times of day and night. The current aprons will soon be receiving some additional capacity as well as being relocated to other parts of the airport close to the terminal.
When you look at an overview picture of Lanseria, there seem to be lots of office buildings, hangars, etc. that are not normally associated with an international airport. This is another of the attractions that Lanseria offers and those buildings, hangars, etc. are leased by various individual manufacturing, maintenance and service companies that are located all over the property. All of them have the same “can-do” attitude that applies to the airport staff. Sayce noted “there have been situations when an aircraft flies in and requires maintenance that was not scheduled or expect. All the companies on the property will get together to do what they can for the aircraft operator”. This is also a cost-saving measure for aircraft operators because all aspects of maintenance can be achieved on the airport property without flying to different vendors at different locations for different services. “We can be a one stop shop for everything from a tire change to a major overhaul to a repaint all in one location,” Sayce noted.
One of the crowning achievements for Lanseria over the past few years was the culmination of the 2010 Soccer World Cup tournament held in South Africa. On the weekend of the final of the tournament, Lanseria had over 250 biz-jets flying in and out of the airport and more importantly, remaining at the airport. In my interview with Gavin Sayce, I got a lot more insight into this extraordinary event. One of the major changes operationally that happened during the World Cup tournament was that all general aviation traffic that would be flying in and out of the airport had to file a flight plan. This was a major change for the weekend flyers that normally perform VFR flights into and around the airport, and there were a few upset Lanseria regulars for that period. That way, the airport could
not be surprised by any additional arrivals, as they knew exactly who would be arriving and when. When dealing with that amount of traffic and expensive biz-jets all over the airport, it was critical for everyone to know what was happening at all times. “On final weekend, all staff from the top management down worked 24 hours a day”, Sayce mentioned, adding “it was a complete team effort that kept the airport totally operational.” At the end of the final, the majority of the visitors departed back to their homes, another huge effort to get all the aircraft refueled, into position to pick up their passengers and then out on the taxiways and runways. In talking to members of the Air Traffic Control department that operate the control tower at Lanseria, it was a stressful time; but the same “can do” attitude prevailed and all the visitors departed with no incidents at all. A huge effort by all concerned at the airport.
One of Lanseria’s more frequent visitors is the United States Air Force. Apart from visits by both President Obama and Vice-President Biden over recent years where they have been 6 or 7 Boeing C-17 aircraft located all over the airfield (pictures attached), the close proximity of the airport to the US Embassy in Pretoria means that regular flights on embassy business come into the airport.
I asked CEO Gavin Sayce what the future holds for Lanseria International. There have been numerous studies over the years by the City of Johannesburg and the South African government investigating the possibilities of a new airport in the Johannesburg area. Because of the air space currently serviced by OR Tambo International Airport and Lanseria, the only viable area to build an additional airport would be in an area that is fraught with meteorological issues like persistent fog and that area also had been in a huge downturn industrially. Because of these reasons, current ideas for the development of an additional airport have been shelved and while OR Tambo International Airport has reached its current growth capacity, the only development that made sense was for Lanseria. The idea of an “airport city” with industrial growth around the airport has been proposed and with this would come an additional runway to increase capacity at the airport and a possible extension of the existing runway to allow for Airbus A380-like capacity. With that would also be increased terminal capacity and passenger facilities to accommodate the increased passenger traffic. Although this is a long term masterplan, work on some of that terminal capacity has already started to allow for much higher capacity of passengers to be able to go through the terminals and to provide more services for them when they are in the terminal buildings.
In closing my conversation with Gavin Sayce, I asked what message could be conveyed to the NYCAviation.com readers, and again there was a simple answer. If you are flying into Lanseria, or want to fly into Lanseria, commercial or bizjet; please call us; we want to be able to provide all of our services in the best South African manner to our visitors. The great staff at Lanseria can be reached on +27 11 367 0300 by telephone, +27 11 701 3261 by fax or email [email protected], or for those intrepid pilots that want to find their way, set your GPS coordinates to S 25° 56’ 22.9 E 27° 55’ 32.1 – I can tell you that you will find the warmest, friendliest staff waiting to welcome you.
(The author would like to express great thanks to all the team at Lanseria International Airport for their welcome and openness during the time he spent their, and in particular, Gavin Sayce, Claudette Vianello, Mike Christoph and Winnie Mahlangu for all their time on a regular business day.)
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