WC 2010: Airport congestion causes fans to miss match

Cape Town- South Africa (PANA) -- Hundreds of fans flying into Durban for Wednesd ay night's World Cup semi-final between Germany and Spain missed the match because of congestion at the King Shaka Inter national Airport.
Two planes from Johannesburg and one from Cape Town were refused permission to l and after the airport was swamped by arrivals.
The problem was compounded by the large numbers of private jets landing at the a irport.
Smaller aircraft were allowed to disembark passengers before 'parking' at the ol d Durban International Airport.
European airlines are making emergency arrangements to cope with demand from foo tball fans ahead of Sunday's World Cup final.
KLM said the interest in flights had increased dramatically and it is doing its utmost to accommodate the increased demand.
Lufthansa said almost all flights to South Africa were sold out.
Travel companies in the Netherlands have reportedly had to employ people at the weekend to man telephone lines to cope with the demand from prospective travellers.
Meanwhile, over 50,000 flight authorisations have been issued in South Africa si nce the tournament began.
The defence department said to date 12,621 aircrew have been screened and 51,294 flight authorisations have been issued.
There had been few violations of flight regulations during this time, comprising 'less than 0.
1 percent' of flights authorised.