Grand entrance to Africa: O.R Tambo International Airport

AFTER 42 years of steady development O. R. Tambo International Airport’s passenger and cargo growth took off in 1994. Just two years later the airport overtook Cairo International Airport as the busiest in Africa.

The airport has been the site of a number of aviation firsts: the landing of the first Boeing 747SP “Jumbo Jet”, high-altitude testing of Concorde and in November 2006 the first airport in Africa to host the Airbus A380.

The airport now facilitates over 21-million passengers a year with a capacity of 28-million passengers and a cargo facilitation capacity of 650 000 tons a year.

A study commissioned by Airports Company South Africa determined that O. R. Tambo International Airport contributes R5,57-billion a year, to Gauteng’s provincial GDP, creating 5 476 direct and indirect jobs.

O. R. Tambo International Airport services more than 40 airlines from five continents across the world and plays a vital role in serving the local and regional air transport needs of South Africans and international travellers.

It is one of the few airports in the world that has non-stop flights to all six inhabited continents.

Over the coming decade implementation of projects approved in the airport’s masterplan will see its capacity rise to 80-million passengers a year, which will consolidate its leading status among African airports and facilitate a further 25 years of development and growth in the region.