Work on Maputo Airport’s new international terminal was completed on July 1, 2010, and while no official inauguration date has been specified, Ernesto Junior, Manager of Maputo Airport, confirms that the event will take place before the year’s end. Between now and the terminal’s official opening, several rounds of testing will be conducted to ensure it is ready to serve the 900,000 domestic and international passengers that are expected to pass through Maputo per year.

“We’ve already begun testing the boarding bridges,” says Junior. “Very soon we will commence testing on the conveyor belts, all aspects of the check-in process and the announcement system.”

Phase two of the project will see the current domestic terminal completely torn down and rebuilt from scratch. While no official dates have been given, the new international terminal will handle both domestic and international flights in the interim. Once begun, completion of the domestic terminal is expected to take about 14 months.

The international terminal measures 13,300-square-meters and at peak times will be able to process 400 departing and 400 arriving passengers. At this stage, Junior estimates that the terminal will house 10 duty free retail locations. Operators will include Mozambique Jewelry, Boutiques Maputo and a number of businesses yet to be named. In addition to the duty free stores at the international terminal, cafés, restaurants and banks will be added to the mix in order to better serve travelers.

“Apart from the modern infrastructure of the new terminal, the building has elevators, escalators and a better closed-circuit television system both inside and outside,” he says. “Other improvements we’ve made include ample parking, a new audio system, internet facilities and new self-check-in screens. We’ll also have 13 check-in counters, which is more than double the current number available.”