CAPE TOWN - Western Cape Finance MEC David Maynier has welcomed the reopening for business travel of the George Airport which gives access to the Garden Route district and provides jobs in the province.
Transport minister Fikile Mbalula on Thursday said the airport, like others around the country grounded since late March under a lockdown aimed at slowing down Covid-19 infections, would reopen for business travellers and cargo as restrictions are gradually eased.
Maynier said his department had been working hard with the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA), the George Airport management, George municipality and the provincial health department to ensure that the airport met the required criteria for reopening.
He said the health department and ACSA would partner to ensure Covid-19 screening was conducted at the airport until the need no longer existed.
Since the country entered into alert level 3 of the Covid-19 restrictions on July 1, having started at level 5 in March, the airport's management has implemented health and safety measures to make it ready for business, including the installation of plexiglass at check-in counters and material for the regular disinfection of equipment such as baggage trolleys.
Essential workers have also been put on staggered shifts, while key signage and overhead announcements of Covid-19 safety measures are in place.
Maynier said businesses in the George and Knysna areas were dependent on business travellers, who accounted for about 40 percent of the 55,000 passengers on average passing through the airport each month before the Covid-19 outbreak.
“There is no doubt that the Covid-19 pandemic will have a severe impact on businesses and the jobs, and so it is critical that where we can continue open the economy safely, even in a limited way, everyone sticks to the rules so that we can save businesses and save jobs in the Western Cape,” Maynier added.