Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport
Gqeberha, South Africa

Commercial strategy and architecture for Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport

Service

Architecture

Sector

Aviation

Size

2 million passengers per annum, 8,700 m²

Solution

Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport serves Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, a compact single-terminal facility handling approximately 1.2 million passengers per year. Despite its scale, the airport lacked a cohesive commercial identity, and limited passenger engagement across both landside and airside areas was constraining dwell time, spend, and overall commercial performance. Benoy developed a holistic commercial strategy and architectural proposal to address these challenges across the full 8,700 m² terminal.

Culture and heritage as commercial anchor

The strategy redefines the airport’s identity through local culture and heritage, translating the significance of Chief Dawid Stuurman, the Khoikhoi leader the airport was renamed to honour in 2021, into a spatial and commercial proposition. A locally sponsored museum is proposed as the central anchor point of the terminal, creating a genuine sense of place that attracts both passengers and the local community, extending the airport’s relevance beyond the functional requirements of travel. This cultural anchor organises the wider tenant mix and spatial planning across landside and airside, giving the commercial offer a coherent identity it previously lacked.

Optimising space and commercial performance

The proposal revitalises both landside and airside areas through improved spatial planning and a reconfigured tenant mix, integrating retail, food and beverage, and cultural elements into a sequence designed to increase dwell time and spend while maintaining the smooth operational flow essential to a compact single-terminal airport.