Bisho Airport
The Bisho Airport Profile provides pertinent general
information, such as Airport location, ownership, and overall
size. The airport was developed during the years when the area
was known as the Ciskei, a former Black Homeland under the
Apartheid regime. Bisho has been reincorporated into the “New
South Africa” with East London, Mdantsane and King Williams
Town. These are now commonly known as Buffalo Municipality – in
the Eastern Cape Province. The airport has undergone an upgrade
worth about R 100 million Rands which conducted the
following:
-
Air BP revamp of fuel depot at cost of R 3
million
-
Completed Terminal Building and residential areas for 43 Air
School offices
-
New Security road and fencing completed
-
New Fire Tender (R 5million) delivered May 2007 and training
has commenced on-site.
-
Pursue improvement of grade from 2 to 4 from Civil Aviation in
order to be compliant with international standards in
preparation of 2010 Activities.
-
Rehabilitation of runway and installation of a new instrument
landing system. Runway is ready for flight
landing
The airport is categorized as a Civilian Airport with the
following World Aviation codes:
IATA
Code:
BIY
ICAO
Code:
FABE
Airport
Location
Bisho Airport is located 3 kilometres east of King Williams
Town and less than 60 kilometres away from the East London
Airport. The geographical location is:
-
Latitude:
32 degrees 53’ 50” S
-
Longitude:
27 degrees 16’44” E
-
Altitude:
1948 ft or 594 m
Airport
Ownership
The airport is owned and operated by Government (DoT – Eastern
Cape). Government appoints all administrative staff and
approves plans and expenditures for all Airport facilities. As
it is Bisho is being considered as a player to facilitate
General Aviation activities before, during and possibly after
the 2010 World Cup. Numerous capital investment packages have
been announced by government to encourage private sector
investment at the airport.
Day to day administration of the airport is the responsibility
of the Airport Manager. Bisho and uMthatha Airports are both
owned and operated by government, unlike East London and Port
Elizabeth Airports which are owned and operated by the Airports
Company of South Africa (ACSA).
Size of the
Airport
The airport has plenty of land consisting of an international
runway and limited facilities. (Number of hectares will be updated in due
course- Data not available at time of report
writing.
Proposed aircraft activity is based on current student pilot
training and future contracts from Sudan and Europe. Additional
proposed uses involve participation as a GA for the 2010 World
Cup, i.e. “aircraft parking and subject to operational
requirements.”
No
data available.
No
data available.
Current activity at the airport can be a classified primarily
as General Aviation. In spite of the airport having an
International runway, it does not have all the required
operational facilities and systems to handle bigger passenger
or cargo aircrafts.
Pilot training by 43 Air School for students from India started
in August 2008. Additional pilot training is earmarked for 180
students and 120 aircraft technicians from southern Sudan later
in the year, December 2008. In 2009, another group from Europe
will also be in training. Predicted increased activity will
move from 100/month to 4,000/month aircraft
movements.
Military activity at the airport is based on the Rwanda Air
Force which has students relocating from the Port-Alfred base
to Bisho. Additional activity will be based on the proposed
Advance Aviation Training School at the airport. Other
countries interested in using the airport for training their
students are Sudan, and some from Europe.
Air traffic control will be investigated as part of the
Feasibility Study of how to best utilise/optimise the airport’s
existing facilities and existence during the 2010 World Cup and
beyond. Levels of Service (LOS) will be further analysed and
all applicable ATC tools and operational requirements will be
addressed.
Currently, only the most basic air traffic control measures are
being used, i.e. radar. In 2007 a new instrument landing system
was purchased and installed; therefore, the airport has
adequate facilities to qualify for flight
landing.
No facilities available to handle any cargo or more than 1, 000
passenger enplanements per month. The operations and facilities
are basic and rudimentary. Major capital investments will be
required to bring the facilities to international code provided
the cost-benefit studies can justify the
expenditure.
The airport lacks adequate facilities to support the
International runway. Upgrades have
been executed, but the focus has been mostly on providing GA
related facilities and support.
The runway is the best infrastructure at the airport with the
following measurements:
Name:
08/26
Length (m)
2,500
Width
(m):
60 (m)
Length (ft)
8,202
Width
(ft):
197 (ft)
No data available
No
data available
Not
adequate to handle huge domestic or international
standards.
There are auto parking facilities. However, no data is
available to quantify unit measure for capacity, condition,
etc.
No
data available for facilities within airport
boundaries.
No
data available as there are no dedicated cargo
facilities.
No
data available regarding the scale or scope of GA
facilities.
What can be documented at this time is that a new Fire tender
was delivered May 2007 and firemen were trained on how to “use
this new vehicle”. Conclusion therefore is that the airport has
the rudiments of Fire fighting and Rescue on site.
Air BP has revamped the fuel depot at own cost at the airport.
Data is not available to quantify scale, scope and unit measure
for capacity or projections.
No
data available.
No
data available.
There is a basic Administration building and facilities to
support staff and handle the small volume of
passengers.
No
adequate data available to conduct
analysis.
No data available to analyse beyond the existence of a new
security road with new security fencing.
No
data available.
No
data available.
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