Man on a mission
The newly appointed Airports Company of Zimbabwe (ACZ) chief executive officer, is a man on a mission. Everything being equal, Mr Gusha wants to change the complexion of the country’s airports in the next 24 months. Body searches that include removing of shoes and belts will be a thing of the past, while security will be beefed up at all major airports.
MR TAWANDA GUSHA (TG), rehabilitation of airports, identification of new sites where new airports have to be constructed. ****************** In this case I will talk about Mutare for SM: Please tell us the mandate of ACZ? instance and Beitbridge where currently TG: The Airport Company of Zimbabwe we do not have commercial airports. We was created from the Civil Aviation also do not have commercial airport in Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) Mashonaland Central. It is Government’s as an entity which is charged with the desire to have commercial airports in all establishment, the development and the the provinces. acquisition, maintenance, management, The current airports were targeting controlling and operating of airports in tourist areas as well as industrial areas the country. We are talking here about all in the country. That is why you find an the commercial airports in the country, airport in Harare then you find another current ones and future ones. airport just outside Harare at Mt Hampden
So that is the main mandate of the — Charles Prince airport. That one organisation and everything that we do was meant mostly for general aviation and revolve around that. You will find out that by general aviation, we are talking about we are into airports and infrastructure charter flights, training schools for pilot development, that is the construction and training. That is our main airport where you find pilot training taking place. We also have private operators who would want to just to fly into that airport, into Harare.
We refer to those ones as non-scheduled operations. That is why we have an airport in Bulawayo for instance. Harare and Bulawayo are most for industrial purposes and a beat of tourism that takes place. You then look at Victoria Falls because of the Victoria Falls resort. Kariba it’s because of the Kariba Dam and the attractions around it. Buffalo Range besides tourism there is also agriculture that takes place there — Tungaat Hullets, the sugar company. Masvingo obviously because of the great Zimbabwe and Hwange National Park and by its name is right in the Hwange National Park.
We are charged with other commercial activities around airports because what we are expected to do by the government is to grow the air transport industry, the business. Airports have become commercial centres so we are looking at both businesses that are directly related to flying as well as businesses that are not directly related to flying. Sometimes you can go further and develop businesses that are not even related to flying, but the idea being to grow the Airport Company of Zimbabwe into a commercial entity that is self-sustaining.
SM: So how do you now relate to CAAZ?
TG: CAAZ remains the regulator and we as ACZ will be the aerodrome operator or the airport operator. What is means is we are regulated by CAAZ so we are subjected to routine audits, routine inspections to ensure that our operations are in line with the provisions of the International Civil Aviation Authority Organisation.
The International Civil Aviation has come up with what the standards and recommended practices that are expected of an operator. So in this case we are subjected to those audits. We have to report periodically to the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe on programmes we putting in place to ensure that we are compliant to those standards and recommended practices. So that will be the relationship with CAAZ. You will notice that at any airport we have services that we require from CAAZ such as navigation services in this case we have air traffic control. So we have to work together on a daily basis. We have got the air navigation systems that we use for aircraft to be able to land and take off at our airports. Those are provided for by the
Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe.
SM: What areas will bring revenue into ACZ?
TG: business itself, that we call aeronautical revenue. So we charge for the services that we offer to the airlines, landing of aircraft at our runways and parking of aircraft at our airports. We also charge passenger services charges for people using our facilities at the airports. Those become the main sources of our revenue. In addition to that we want to put security systems that exceed rather international standards so that we are able to introduce what we call a security fee.
That in itself boosts confidence in the traveller and also airlines as they fly into our airports. We are also looking into options where we can put that system into place and that security fee will go into our revenues. One key advantage it has to airlines is that it reduces the airline’s insurance premiums because their insurers will then look into the destination that they fly into and do a risk assessment and see if it is risky for the airline client to fly into say Robert Gabriel Mugabe (RGM) International Airport. But if you have systems that ensure that safety, that gives confidence and means that the risk will be low and the premium will also be low.
SMB: Besides aeronautical, what other revenue streams do you have? TG: In addition to that we have what we call non aeronautical revenues. Those are revenues that are no directly linked to the business of flying. So these are activities that include development of land around the airport so that people can have say hotels around the
airport, conference centres around the airports.
This, we are targeting most RGM as well as Victoria Falls International Airports to begin with. Then we will roll it out to other airports. But you can imagine some companies coming close to the airport and they put light industrial site for the production of goods that they may probably intend to export.
It will be easier logistically for them to transport those goods to the airport. We are also even looking at investing into real estate for instance.
SM: How do you rate airport in Zimbabwe?
TG: We have eight commercial airports in the country. The biggest in term of size and also business is RGM International. Currently RGM is handing 2,5 million passengers. The expansion programmes you see out there will increase that capacity to six million passengers per annum.
This is broken into domestic and international passengers. Domestic terminal has capacity of 500 000 passengers and currently international terminal has capacity of 2 million. So we are increasing the capacity of the international terminal from the current 2 million to 5,5 million passengers.
We also measure capacity by the biggest type of aero plane that can land at an airport. That is also dependent on the runway that you have and also the strength of that runway.
An aircraft is heavy so on touching down the impact that it will have on the runway determines whether you are able to handle a certain size of an aircraft. So with RGM, we can handle any type of an aircraft in the world that is currently operating. Right now during this expansion programme we are putting up and apron that is able to handle Airbus (A380) that we currently do not have. But in terms of the runway, it is able to handle the Airbus A380. We have handled the largest cargo airplane in operation, Russian made Antenov 42. RGM has a 4 725 metre runway.
SM: What about Victoria Falls? TG: We upgraded it in 2016 and so far in terms of size it is the second biggest port in the country and has a 4km runway, which is capable of handling a Boeing 747. It has a capacity of 1,5 million passengers per annum.
We are growing traffic into Victoria Falls. I must just add and say that next year we will be witnessing the introduction of a flight by Heroine Discover, which is part of the Lufthansa, on March 30, 2022 if things do not change.
It is a leisure airline. Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo becomes the third largest, and has a runway of 2 286 metres and so far we have been landing the Boeing 767 and we have plans to increase that capacity in the not to distance future. Charles Prince is just for light aircraft.
Kariba takes up to the size of BA146 and MA60 can fly into Kariba. Buffalo Range Airport in Chirred is almost the same size of Kariba. Currently, there are works taking place, we are working with DDF to rehabilitate some of the infrastructure. Masvingo Airport, is also for small aircraft and again the MA 60 can land.
We have Hwange National Park Airport and interestingly, it has the second longest runway in the country with 4 600m. Its longer than Victoria Falls but the strength is the one that limit its capacity. It was mainly used for fighter jets during the liberation struggle. The then Rhodesian Government used it to launch their fighter jets.
SM: Moving into the future, what has ACZ has in store?
TG:
We want to compete and stand out in the region (Southern Africa). Of course the big brother is South Africa. We will be working with the Airport Company of South Africa to make sure that we not only tap into their business, but into the knowledge and experience that has seen South Africa growing that level of business. OR Tambo International Airport is the biggest in Africa. So we have got a lot to learn from them and we want be second from South Africa in terms of business and service delivery. We will be knocking on their doors and we have already started some engagements and will continue with that.
SM: Mr Gusha as a man, what drives you?
TG: I like challenges, I take advantage of opportunities when I see them. I am not afraid of stepping in where I see a gap.
I joined aviation in 1998 as an air traffic controller. Four years later I was a duty manager, few years later become operations manager for airport operations on a national scale.
The post was changed to regional airports manager and focus now was on the small airports with the exclusion of RGM, Victoria Falls and JMN. I become director of airports in 2016, a position I held until I was appointed CEO for the ACZ. I am a go getter, I am ambitious. I am not afraid of taking chances, raising my hand when there is a task to be done.
I am a results-oriented person and I want to see things being done. I want to see outcomes. That is why I am talking about the future of the ACZ, seeing the company being self-sustaining and not relying on the fiscus. We want to make a difference in the aviation space, in so far as service delivery is concerned. In the meantime, we are in the process of building up our team.
I want to leave a mark of excellence. I want our airports to be synonymous with excellence, particularly in terms of service delivery. We want to give our clients an experience when they come to the airport or when they pass through our airports. We want to try and automate as much as possible so that we reduce the amount of time a passenger is held at the airport particularly going through the airport process, the clearance processes, whether you are coming in or you are going out.
We want the process to be smooth, to be seamless. We are going to make sure that we work towards achieving that. But what is key is automation. Again it depends with the team that we are going to put in place. We want that difference to be noticed.
SM: You talked about security, please expand more
TG: Like I said earlier on, we want to put in pace a security system that will be exceeding the International Civil Aviation Organisation minimum requirements. We were audited in 2019, we were taken through what is called universal audit programme which looked at our access control, the way ensure the safety of flying.
We came out as a state at 72 percent compliance, which is something which is commendable. We were way above regional averages and we want to maintain that and improve that.
We are going to put in place systems to make sure that we will not be subjecting passengers to removing shoes and belts.
We will install body scanners in the not too distance future. All things being equal and if we get necessary approvals in the next 24 months we will be having different airports. The airport spaces will be totally different. We will have body scanners.
We will make sure we will not be labelled as sports where illicit things take place, the smuggling, we have seen in the papers.
We want to change that narrative so that nothing passes our place undetected. We are going to increase our surveillance system and our screening processes.