Tuesday 22 October 2013

OR Tambo - Africa's busiest airport

OR Tambo International airport, about 50 km from Johannesburg city centre, was previously known as Jan Smuts Airport. It was renamed to Johannesburg International Airport after the 1994 democratic elections, but got its current name on 27 October 2006, the birthday of Oliver Tambo, a former president of the ANC.

During 1996, this airport became the busiest in Africa with a capacity of more than 28 million passengers per year, surpassing Cairo at the time. It is amongst the 100 busiest airports in the world and is one of only a few airports world wide with scheduled flights to all 6 inhabited continents.

During our visit on a Friday morning at 9am, it was as busy as at anytime. As with most airports, it was not possible to reach the immigration officials, nor the airport management. We visited the police station to get 'prove' of our visit.

I was impressed with the red and green lights in the parking area that indicate the number and position of available parking bays.