South Africa: Cape Town's new departures terminal to open on Saturday

The old departures terminal will close this week. It is going to become the new airside section of the domestic arrivals terminal by March 2010. The domestic departures tent which is currently used will get removed by mid-December 2009.
From March 2010 on both domestic and international arrivals will be linked to the new central terminal building.
Located near the current International Terminal, a 5-storey parkade will increase the airport’s parking by 4000 bays upon its completion. The 1st and 2nd floors will be made available in December 2009, while the 3rd and 4th floors are coming on stream in January 2010 and completion of the parkade earmarked for March 2010.
The growth of the airport has necessitated the separation of arriving and departing vehicular traffic. For this reason, an upper roadway, similar to O.R.Tambo international Airport (ORTIA), has been constructed. This roadway will see all drop off’s on the upper roadway, with all collections for shuttles and metered taxis at the ground level and all pick-ups for the general public located along the central boulevard.

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What to expect when the Departures portion of the Central Terminal Building opens?

• A common check-in area for departing domestic and international pax on the second floor with 120 check-in desks and 20 self-service kiosks.
• In-transit passengers will not need to move from one terminal to another anymore.
• A central security screening point for all departing pax.
• The domestic departure hall is now about 200m long
• Five new air bridges for domestic departures
• A new automated baggage-sorting system which will process up to 3000 bags per hour
• 30 shops and restaurants occupying a total of 1 080sqm
• A viewing deck and restaurants on the mezzanine level.

some usefull tipps:

• If you’re meeting a person at the aiport, proceed to the current international or domestic arrival terminals.
• The route for domestic car hire has changed. When returning to drop off your vehicle, make use of the current drop-off road called Central Boulevard to return your car. Look for the directional signage. This is a temporary inconvenience until March 2010.
• Domestic flights: arrive at least 1hrs30 before departure
• International flights:arrive at least 2hs30 before departure.

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