Free State Business 2017 edition

INTERVIEW Poised for

INTERVIEW Poised for growth Esmaralda Barnes, Airport Manager at Bram Fischer International Airport, discusses some of the advantages of the airport in Bloemfontein. Esmaralda Barnes BIOGRAPHY Esmaralda Barnes was appointed as South Africa’s first woman manager of an international airport at Pietersburg in 1996. She then moved to Matavia Airlines, where she managed their South African operations before moving to the UAE, followed by a short stay in The Gambia. In 2001, Esmaralda was approached by the South African Civil Aviation Authority to take over the management of Pietermaritzburg Airport. In 2003, Airports Company South Africa appointed Esmaralda as Airport Manager at Upington, and was transferred to Bram Fischer International Airport in 2013. Could you give an overview of the facilities and capacity of the airport? In terms of capacity, over the previous financial year, the airport processed a total number of 34 348 Air Traffic Movements, which produced 393 471 passenger movements. This is an 8% increase on the previous financial year’s movement, and a 5% increase compared to budget. This is good considering the current slow growth in the national and provincial market. Bram Fischer International Airport has excellent facilities, which include two intersecting runways, that assist with landing and taking off from the alternate runway should it not be conducive for the main runway to be used. This almost eliminates chances of having to divert traffic due to heavy or swirling wind movements. What services do you offer to businesses? Bram Fischer International Airport is the main aviation hub in the Free State. We carry a diversion status for the country, which means that if an aircraft cannot land at its destination due to weather or technical challenges, our airport is the next point of diversion. Bram Fischer International Airport is well positioned to offer a national distribution and collection point to exporters and importers of light cargo. The size of the infrastructure enables quick processing of imports and exports efficiently. We are well positioned to relieve pressure from OR Tambo International Airport, while ensuring growth of the Free State province. What opportunities for development are there at the airport? There is vast undeveloped land near the airport. Airport Company South Africa’s drive is to focus on non-aeronautical revenue that can be generated through proper analysis of the business demand and availability within our region, province and national economy at large. FREE STATE BUSINESS 2017 56

Tourism Cultural tourism is a new focus for the Free State. OVERVIEW Situated as it is in the centre of the country, the Free State’s road infrastructure comes under disproportionate pressure, but the road network plays an important part of the support system that keeps the tourism industry going. Tourist operators in the Free State’s northern section are delighted that the R74 road (Oliviershoek Pass) has been fixed and upgraded. Providing as it does an alternative to the very busy N3 highway between Johannesburg and Durban, the R74 is an important link to the tourism sites along the edge of the Drakensburg mountain range, including a route from the north to the Royal Natal National Park. The Free State is putting a focus on culture in various forms, as a way of expanding the tourist offering of the province. The province already has dramatic mountainscapes, huge bodies of water that lend themselves to recreation and the wide open spaces that travellers crave when they want to get away from the city pressures. A Heroes’ Park is to be constructed at Thaba Nchu and Tumahole and statues of Oliver Tambo and Fidel Castro are to be unveiled as part of the provincial government’s drive to promote cultural projects. Bloemfontein’s history includes the fact that both the party of apartheid (the National Party) and the party that helped defeat apartheid, SECTOR INSIGHT The Vaal River is a popular destination for holidaymakers. • de Stijl Gariep Hotel was a provincial Lilizela award winner in 2015. the African National Congress (ANC), were founded in the city. The Mangaung African Cultural Festival (Macufe) is a Bloemfontein event that, since it began in 1997, has become a national and international event. Offerings range from music (gospel to jazz and Afrikaans liedjies) and craft stalls to poetry, film and theatre, a soccer tournament and boxing matches. 57 FREE STATE BUSINESS 2017