Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport beefs up security ahead of holiday season

Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport has tightened security ahead of the holidays. The airport hosted an aviation security stakeholder engagement to exchange security tips to ensure passengers’ safety among others.

Campaign

The airport held the final activation for the year of the South African Civil Aviation Authority’s (SACAA) ‘Year of Security Culture’ campaign.

The aviation security culture initiative is in response to the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2309 and the International Civil Aviation Organization’s call for Member States to promote a safety and security aviation culture across airports, airlines, and with air passengers, air cargo entities as well as aviation security training organisations.

South Africa is ranked among the leading aviation security countries in the world, and the aviation authority wants to keep it that way.

As the festive season is in full swing, the airport expects a high number of passengers to pass through that airport. Over a quarter of a million people pass through that airport annually. Among them are business people and tourists.

“We are wary that there might be people that try to find a way thinking that if you go via a small airport that there is a way you can get to another country without proper paper or permits we follow up with questioning and making sure we follow the procedures set up by the airline,” says Airport Operations Manager Clive Van Zyl.

Last month, the inter-continental airline Eurowings Discover launched a direct flight from Frankfurt in Germany to the KMIA. The flight lands three times a week at this airport.

VIDEO: Direct flight between Mbombela and Frankfurt lands in SA, 16 Nov 2022:

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SECURITY

“It’s to make sure, they know what is in their luggage, that’s very important because if something is found, you will have to explain. So the other thing is to know what is around you, need to know what to be carried on the aircraft and not to carry. Those are the small incidences we come across like removing pocket knives from people, those are small things,” says Hi-Tec’s Managing Director.

Civil Aviation Authority’s Phindile Gwebu adds, “Aviation security is everybody’s business and therefore we expect that everyone who is at the airport would be mindful of those potential hazards. They see so they would report them so that people get to know more. It’s important as the state in a sense because we are a big aviation country, global it is important that we improve the state of aviation security.”

With the festive season in full swing, authorities are on high alert for any eventualities.