PRESS RELEASE - 2018 QUARTER 2 RESULTS
Zambia Airports Corporation Limited (ZACL) has recorded a positive growth spurt of 14.4 per cent in the second quarter of 2018. A total of 488,640 general passengers passed through the four main airports namely Kenneth Kaunda (KKIA), Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe (SMKIA), Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula (HMNIA) and Mfuwe (MIA) International Airports. This is when compared to the same period last year which had 427,311 passengers. In this context, general passengers include both arriving and departing passengers, transit passengers, domestic and international passengers.
101,937 domestic passengers passed through the airports in comparison to 79,658 in the second quarter of 2017 resulting in an increase of 28 per cent. Similarly international passengers increased by 39,050 resulting in 11.2 per cent increment compared to 2017.
Some notable factors that led to the growth were as follows;
1. Significant increased domestic uplifts to Livingstone, Lusaka and Ndola by Mahogany Air and Proflight Zambia resulting in a positive domestic variance of 26%, 51%, 17% and 7% respectively at Kenneth Kaunda (KKIA), Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe (SMKIA), Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula (HMNIA) and Mfuwe (MIA) International Airports when compared to the same period last year. This signifies that an actual growth has been recorded rather than a split in the passenger numbers following the introduction of Mahogany Air in August of 2017.
2. Reduced ticket fares due to increased competition. This development is expected to increase economies of scale in the medium to long term.
3. Proflight Zambia introduced a bigger capacity aircraft servicing both Ndola and Livingstone. The aircraft type was Fokker 70 with a seat capacity of about 73.
Proflight are in the process of introducing a Boeing 737-500 with 114 seats.
4. Increased hosting of Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events.
5. The introduction of RwandAir flights on the Lusaka-Johannesburg route has also proven to be a success. RwandAir further upgraded their fleet to include an A330, with a seat capacity of 270 while maintaining other aircrafts such as the B737, CRJ and a Q400 on the route. This resulted in increased capacity on the route.
Paying Passenger Movements
Paying passengers are all departing passengers from the four designated airports at Kenneth Kaunda (KKIA), Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe (SMKIA), Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula (HMNIA) and Mfuwe (MIA) International Airports. The total paying passenger traffic during the quarter under review was 173,294 against a budget of 163,338 representing about 6.1% above budget performance. Similarly, this was a positive growth of about 13% when compared to the same period last year when 153,676 paying passengers were recorded.
At individual airport level, Kenneth Kaunda International Airport (KKIA) continued to be dominant with 113,289 paying passengers having been recorded during the period under review. This was 5.4% above budget of 107, 501 paying passengers in the second quarter. However, this was a positive growth of about 12% when compared to the same period last year when 101,434 paying passengers were recorded.
The performance at Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport (SMKIA) was positive against the budget performing at 34% against a growth of 24.3 % in 2017.
Mfuwe International Airport (MIA) and Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula International Airports (HMNIA) recorded negative performances of 1 % and 4 % respectively.
Kenneth Kaunda International Airport (KKIA) recorded positive performances against the budget in both domestic and international paying passengers at 21.3% and 1.3% respectively. Similarly, Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport (SMKIA) recorded positive performances against the budget in both domestic and international paying passengers at 60.3% and 4.7% respectively.
Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula International Airport (HMNIA) recorded a positive performance against the budget of 5.8% in domestic paying passengers and a negative performance of (8.4%) in international paying passengers. Similarly, Mfuwe International Airport (MIA) recorded a positive performance against the budget of 2.8% in domestic paying passengers and a negative performance of (47.6%) in international paying passengers.
The overall domestic and international performance against the budget was 24.7% positive and (0.1) % negative respectively. Additionally, a comparison against the same period last year indicates positive growths of 37% for domestic paying passengers and 5% for international paying passengers.
General Passenger Movement Performance by Airport
All airports recorded positive growths in the second quarter of 2018 when compared to the same period last year. Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe (SMKIA) and Kenneth Kaunda (KKIA) International Airports recorded the highest growths at 20.2% and 15.1% respectively while Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula (HMNIA) and Mfuwe (MIA) International Airports grew by 6.5% and 3.8% respectively. These growths were due to a general improvement in the number of travelers as outlined above.
Kenneth Kaunda International Airport (KKIA) had the largest number of passengers being the main gateway in the country. The airport handled 70% of total general passenger movements in the second quarter of 2018. Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe (SMKIA) and Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula International Airports(HMNIA) handled 15% and 14% of total passengers respectively. The smallest airport, Mfuwe International Airport (MIA) carried 2% of the total traffic.
Aircraft Movement
During the second quarter of 2018, a total of 15,322 aircraft movements were recorded in the four main airports namely Kenneth Kaunda (KKIA), Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe (SMKIA), Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula (HMNIA) and Mfuwe (MIA) International Airports.
When compared to the same period last year which had 13,957 aircraft movements, there was a positive growth of 9.8%.
Domestic aircraft movements increased by 14.1% from 7,578 aircraft movements in the second quarter of 2017 to 8,650 aircraft movements in the second quarter of 2018.
International aircraft movements increased by 4.6% from 6,379 aircraft movements in the second quarter of 2017 to 6,672 aircraft movements in the second quarter 2018.
Cargo Movement
When compared to the same period last year, Cargo movement increased by 20.7% in the second quarter of 2018.
About Zambia Airports Corporation Limited
Zambia Airports Corporation Limited was established in 1989 through the amendment of the Aviation Act, Chapter 444 of the Laws of Zambia which has been repealed and replaced by the Aviation Act No. 5 of 2016. It is also incorporated under the Companies Act Chapter 388 of the Laws of Zambia.
The Corporation’s mandate is to develop, maintain and manage the four designated international airports, namely Kenneth Kaunda in Lusaka, Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe in Ndola, Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula in Livingstone and Mfuwe and three Strategic and seven provincial aerodromes and the provision of Air Navigation services throughout the Zambian Airspace.
For further information contact:
Mweembe Sikaulu (Ms.)
Communications and Brand Manager
mweembe.sikaulu@zacl.aero; cell: +260 964 629463