GUEST COLUMN
Nkosinathi Myataza is an engineer and the regional general manager of ACSA’s (Airports Company South Africa) Durban International Airport. He spoke to KZN INVEST.
Q: In a nutshell, how would you describe your job?
A: We connect people to people, people to places, people to opportunities, people to dreams. We do this in the context of contributing to the greater good of the economy, people and society, and the natural environment, all the while creating a sustainable industry and developmental state.
Q: As an engineer, what are your qualifications and how do you apply them at work?
A: What I value more than the qualifications are the professional registrations, in that they hold one accountable to various bodies of knowledge and ethical codes. I am a Professional Certificated Engineer with ECSA, a Certified Risk Management Practitioner with IRMSA, and a Certified Director with IoDSA. My highest academic qualification though, is an MSc in Operations Research, which opens up a whole new world of quantitative and qualitative modelling techniques and systems thinking, including Systems Dynamics. This is a practical skill in a world with a multitude of interdependent and everchanging variables.
Q: As you’ve worked in a variety of jobs, please tell us about your job history and what your priority is now?
I have worked in nuclear power generation, and the petrochemical and manufacturing industries. It has always been about processing resources through varying but controlled physical parameters to finished products. All these are inanimate. Working in the airport environment is very different in that your main input resources and output products are PEOPLE. No matter how consistent and controlled you maintain your physical environment, there is no guarantee of a consistent and happy outcome. That is the challenge – producing a happy and satisfied customer and stakeholder is much more complex than converting nuclear energy to electrical energy, and all other transitional states in between. The priority is to achieve that consistent passenger satisfaction while meeting reasonable stakeholder needs, under the different scenarios and at times conflicting wants.
Q: If you’d like to leave a legacy at work, what would it be?
A: A resilient and sustainable business, in harmony with internal and external stakeholders. But more fulfilling would be building and leaving behind an inclusive leadership corp of fully rounded professionals.
Q: After a two-year hiatus, Turkish Airlines has extended two of its Istanbul-Johannesburg flights to include Durban on Thursdays and Saturdays. Why do you think that is important?
A: An airport’s value is its ability to move passengers and cargo from one place to another as fast and cost- effectively as possible. International flights work to enable this by driving greater air connectivity, which involves growing the network effect of the airport, allowing travellers and goods to reach more destinations efficiently. With the reintroduction of air services by our Middle East hub carriers – Emirates Airlines and Qatar Airways and now the resumption of flights by Turkish Airlines – it has expanded King Shaka International Airport’s overall route network to over 500 destinations which can be reached within 24 hours from Durban.
My team has the resources to monitor and anticipate the performance of the airlines that have air services at our airport. This data becomes vital in identifying trends, opportunities and threats. This data forms the basis of the business cases we and our route development committee colleagues use to put forward proposals to airlines to introduce new routes into Durban. Airfreight has seen strong growth that enabled the reintroduction of regional and intercontinental air services, as most airfreight in and out of Durban is flown in the cargo holds of passenger aircraft.
There is also a strong focus on flights within the SADC region and to improve connectivity between our provinces. A significant global and local development is the building of economies around airports in the form of aerotropolis cities. This is not much different to developments of economies and towns around railway stations or junctions in the past centuries, but now with higher speed, connectivity, and technology.
But of greater significance, there is now a deliberate emphasis on work-life balance, social inclusivity and equity, and due considerations for the natural environment.
Q: How does one explain how important international air travel is as a driver of South Africa’s tourism sector, and what economic multiplier effect is?
A: International air travel is important in the overall mix of travellers that contribute to overall passenger volumes. Some of the major tourism source markets for KwaZulu-Natal are in Europe and North America.
International air travel provides these lucrative visitors access to our tourism products. The potential spending of these visitors on accommodation, entertainment and logistics gives an idea of the multiplier effects of international air travel. The tourism sector contributed 3,7% to GDP and directly employed 4,7% of the total workforce in 2019.
Q: In terms of connectivity, how connected is Durban globally?
A: Airline route networks change and adapt in accordance with various factors – social, economic and political. Turkish Airlines has a route network connecting 329 cities from its hub in Istanbul; Emirates has around 146 destinations, while Qatar Airways has 160. We recently introduced Airlink’s Durban-Harare route with three flights a week.
Q: Please tell us a bit about your personal life?
A: I am the second born son of seven children, and come from a tight- knit family. Our father – who passed on while we were quite young – was an Anglican priest, and our mother – who joined our father earlier this year – was a foundation phase schoolteacher. I grew up in various areas, mostly in the Eastern Cape, as the family moved from one Anglican mission to the next. I was born in uMzimkhulu. In my early teens I was at boarding school in Mthatha (St Johns College), and later moved to the then University of Natal-Durban. My first year in boarding school coincided with the 1980 school boycotts. Three years later I joined the University of Natal to study electrical engineering, after having waited for a period to be granted a permit to study in a white university, which was the norm in those years. The political landscape was volatile with the youth at the forefront of the struggle against inequality and injustice. These years reinforced a strong sense of justice and social conscience infused by church teachings. My studies were disrupted. Sadly, some of those we grew up with never came out alive. Those are the painful and yet proud memories that keep me strong, steadfast and ethical. These freedoms were not free.
In the 90s I resumed my studies at the then Peninsula Technikon in Cape Town. I worked in the city for 14 years while continuously studying further part-time. In 2004 I found myself back in Durban having joined the Airports Company South Africa.
Besides my siblings and childhood friends and compatriots, I share my life with my two sons and a daughter. When I am not at work I am with family and friends. I read widely and follow social media. I was an amateur boxer in my youth so sometimes I hit my punching bag.