The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has said Malawi does not have a certified airport due to lack of systems and infrastructure, human resource, safety and security, among others.
The authority said this is one of the reasons international airline operators have been shunning Malawi.
But both CAA and Airport Development Limited (ADL) confirmed in separate interviews on Saturday that they are working towards certifying Kamuzu International Airport (KIA) in Lilongwe within the next two years.
CAA acting director general Samuel Kalua said airports such as KIA and Chileka in Blantyre, which handle scheduled and non-scheduled flights, must meet requirements under International Civil Aviation Organisation (Icao) and Civil Aviation (Aerodromes) Regulations of 2017.
He said these airport systems, lacking at both KIA and Chileka, need to have detailed procedures for recruitment, licensing, recurrent training and air site access authorisation.
Kalua added that the authority, as a regulator responsible for certification, was new and does not have the capacity, including qualified personnel to conduct certification.
He said: “Now that the authority has been created, we are building an inspectorate responsible for certification. A number of inspectors are going through different trainings.
“For example, early next month, we will have an Icao accredited training to be conducted in Lilongwe.”
Kalua said as part of ongoing reforms in the sector, the aviation authority and ADL are moving away from dependence on government funding by accessing revenue generated at airports to be used for staff recruitment and training as well as airport rehabilitation.
He said: “Certification is a surety to all operators. Even if Malawi were to start her airline from KIA to Europe for example, other airports would demand certification so that we do not put them at risk.”
ADL chief executive officer Victor Lungu said as part of the certification process, they are upgrading equipment apart from hiring more air traffic and fire department personnel.
He said additional equipment is needed due to an increasing number of passengers, having registered a rise from 440 000 in 2024 to a target of 600 000 in 2025 and 1 million within the next two years.
“One critical thing about the runway at KIA is that we have a huge drainage system which is about 15 kilometres and poses a problem to aircraft,” he said.
Kalua and Lungu could not give the actual date of completing rehabilitation works at Mzuzu Airport, saying they are now at 75 percent.
