First flight from PTown to CTown
The maiden commercial flight from a refurbished Wonderboom National Airport, north of Pretoria, took off for Cape Town on Sunday amid excitement among Gauteng officials.
“A city without its own airport is a very poor city. An airport symbolises your degree to see that which is not yet there,” Gauteng premier David Makhura said at the media launch of the revamped airport.
“The world of ground transport denies you the opportunity [to see] that which you have to see. With ground transport there are things you may not see. An airport is an act of foresight and vision,” Makhura said.
“Wonderboom [the area] is still small but you must have the ability to see a whole new city developing here. We are not just building an airport here, but a new economy. A whole new city is going to develop here.
“Years later some of you will come and find a big city here. One investment must catalyse many other developments,” he said.
Tshwane mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa said more money would be invested in development around the area.
He said the airport enabled government officials to travel conveniently between Pretoria and Parliament in Cape Town.
“We are making sure that we link the two strategic centres of power in the country. This route is politically significant because it links the executive to the legislature.
“This [Pretoria] is the seat of government, we have made it possible for the executives to go and account in the legislature quicker,” said Ramokgopa.
“The executives get to spend much time in the legislature, they get interrupted when they respond to the questions. When they have longer sessions, they should be able to get home quicker.”
Ramokgopa said the airport had free Wi-Fi offering 250 megabytes per person daily to all people passing through the airport.
SA Airlink chief executive Rodger Foster said Airlink flight SA8673 would be the first of many. He said there would be three flights between Pretoria and Cape Town daily.
The first plane to leave the renovated airport was an Avro model RJ85 made by British Aerospace. -ANA
(File photo: Gallo Images)