Cape Winelands Airport “long overdue”

Scully Levin chats to Cape Winelands Airport executive director Mark Wilkinson about why Cape Town aviation will benefit from the new airport being developed at Fisantekraal.

By Paul Ash

If you’re flying into Cape Town on a commercial flight, chances are you have seen the wide, brown cross runways that mark Fisantekraal airport.

Ten nautical miles from Cape Town International and 3,000ft below the TMA, Fisantekraal looks like a World War II airbase, which is exactly what it was when it was built 80 years ago.

After years of decay and legal wrangles over ownership, Fisantekraal is on track to becoming Cape Town’s second major airport, capable of handling wide-body commercial airliners and giving the city, and the airlines, a viable alternative to Cape Town International.

Now called Cape Winelands Airport (CWA), the new field will use just two of the original six runways, says Mark Wilkinson in a conversation with Scully Levin.