O.R. Tambo International Airport, East Rand, Gauteng
O.R. Tambo International Airport is South Africa’s principal airport, with more than 50 percent of the country’s air passengers passing through the airport, and one of the busiest airports in the world.
The airport has recently undergone major renovations and is now able to handle 28 million passengers a year. This is the biggest and busiest airport in Africa and is one of the few airports in the world that has direct flights to all six inhabited continents.
Situated in Gauteng, the airport is ideally located in the heart of South Africa’s commercial and industrial hub and has exceptional infrastructure linking it the greater Johannesburg Metropolitan area. The Gautrain rapid rail system links the airport with Sandton, Johannesburg and Pretoria. It runs between Sandton and OR Tambo International Airport, and Hatfield in Pretoria to Rosebank. For the Gautrain schedule please refer to their website.
Welcome to the gateway of the African continent
The airport was founded in 1952 as “Jan Smuts Airport”, two years after his death. It displaced the “Palmietfontein International Airport” which had handled European flights since 1945. In the same year of its inception, it had the honourable distinction of ushering in the Jet Age, when the first commercial flight of a de Havilland Comet took off from London Heathrow Airport bound for Johannesburg.
The airport was renamed in 2006 to honour the memory of one of our national heroes and icons, Oliver Reginald Tambo. An anti-apartheid politician and central figure in the African National Congress (ANC), Tambo served a term as president of the ANC.
The facilities are exceptional, ranging from first-class lounges and baby changing rooms to wrapping services for the cautious traveller (this is advised for international flights for ones peace of mind). It boasts an enormous parking lot, with an impressive 17500 parking bays, and a filling service station for the return of hired cars.
Address: Jones Rd, Kempton Park.
Helpdesk: Tel: +27 (0)11 921 6262: Flight information: Tel: 086 72 77 888. Website.
| More info on the quaint town of Kempton Park | More info on the Ekurhuleni area |
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