
Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) has been in existence since 1993 and has succeeded in transforming fragmented assets into a world-class, profitable business. Although ACSA is majority-owned by the South African government, the company is legally and financially autonomous and operates under commercial law. Formed to own and operate the nine principal South African airports, including the three international gateways of OR Tambo, Cape Town and Durban, ACSA added Pilanesberg International Airport to its network in 1998 under a 30-year concession with the North West province. And over the past few years, the transformation of the company has extended far beyond the highly visible expansion and additions to its inherited infrastructure, to embrace successful commercial principles and a strong customer service ethic. Over the past three years ACSA has invested about R15-billion in improving infrastructure and services across its network of airports throughout the country. This has been a carefully planned investment programme based on projected air traffic aligned to the needs and requirements of the aviation industry. This was implemented as ACSA sees itself not only as a provider of safe and secure infrastructure for airlines to move people and goods from one geographic point to another, but also as proactive participants in promoting economic development, tourism growth and job creation.