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Not always an easy ride... George Uriesi is arguably the most memorable new arrival on the local tourism/travel scene in the past year. We encountered him twice before this interview – at a media briefing and a workshop. On both occasions, one couldn't but be impressed by his sincerity, warmth and the clarity with which he conveyed his message. He's not the sort of guy you want to speak after... unless you are exceptionally good.
Reflecting on his management style, one of his colleagues recalled a strategic planning weekend for the management team. George kicked things off by saying, "I'm not interested in strategies... I want action plans."
But any awards over the next three years will be the cherry on top of what will be a "huge transition phase... a painful process." He makes no bones over the difficulties ahead. The disruptions caused by the multi-storey parking garage, which opens in April 2006, will have been a dry run for what is to come next. Uriesi refers to "managing the pain" of the next phase. Uriesi explains that all airports have 20 to 30 year masterplans and they try to keep two years ahead of projected demand. But all that changed for CTIA with the arrival of low cost carriers who drove growth from the planned 4–5% annual growth to 12–14%. With a flourishing economy, travel habits changed too. Weekend trips became more frequent and lasted longer, putting parking facilities under pressure. So... new development at CTIA had to be compressed. Work on "huge domestic terminal", a second parking garage and a completely new road network starts in July 2006 for completion in 2009. A second runway is being discussed based on the capacity together with maintenance and safety requirements of the current single runway. While scheduled for 2012/13, the need is being revisited in the next few months. Cape Town will be the alternate airport for the giant Airbus A380, but minor changes are needed to cope for that. We hoped to bring you a diagram of where new developments will take place, but we were unable to get the information from CTIA's communication department. So... "if we do win awards in the next three years, it will be extraordinary," he quips. But Cape Town will be ready for the 2010 Soccer World Cup! Some of CTIA's challenges stem from Cape Town's poor public transport system and Uriesi illustrates this by a comparison with Auckland, New Zealand, which handles 11 million passengers a year. It has 1 800 parking bays. CTIA, with nearly 7 million passengers, already has some 4 600 parking bays and needs more! So one really needs to ask what the City and Province are doing about public transport. If CTIA's domestic terminals are bursting at the seams, the newer international terminals could do with much more traffic, especially during the Cape's winter months.
Uriesi concedes that selling Cape Town to African travellers is a tough proposition, but he still alludes to opportunities in Angola and Kenya, as examples. Increasingly, airlines are looking for incentives to open new routes so the challenge is to engage all local stakeholders if incentives are going to be offered. And so to our perennial gripe... why is parking at CTIA so expensive? When shopping centres charge R4 for the first two hours of under-cover parking, CTIA charges R9 for the first hour of open (shade) parking. Deidre Hendricks (communications officer) expressed surprise; Uriesi counters with with the high cost of airport infrastructure, and then says there will be a differentiated fee when the new parking garage opens. Will that make open parking less expensive and will CTIA emulate the Waterfront's example of making free parking available to compensate for construction inconveniences? He couldn't say. Come on, George! Now if you said parking fees contribute to the cost of a comfortable and safe public transport service, we'd support you. Think how much you'd be saving in expensive airport infrastructure.   
March 2006 |
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2nd Best Airport in the Middle East & Africa
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