About O.R. Tambo International Airport

O. R. Tambo International Airport (IATA: JNB, ICAO: FAOR) is an international airport situated in Kempton Park, Gauteng, South Africa. It serves as the primary airport for domestic and international travel to/from South Africa and is Africa's busiest airport, with a capacity to handle up to 28 million passengers annually.

The airport serves as the hub for South African Airways. The airport handled over 21 million passengers in 2017.

The airport was founded in 1952 as Jan Smuts International Airport, two years after Smuts's death, near the town of Kempton Park on the East Rand. It replaced Palmietfontein International Airport, which had handled European flights since 1945.

O. R. Tambo International Airport is a hot and high airport. Situated 1,700 metres (5,500 feet) above mean sea level, the air is thin. The thinner air is also the reason for the longer than usual runways.

O. R. Tambo International Airport is one of only three airports in the Africa-Middle East region—as well as the only one properly located in Africa—that has non-stop flights to all six inhabited continents, the other two being Dubai International Airport and Doha International Airport.

South African Airways Museum

The South African Airways Museum once was located at the airport. This room full of South African Airways memorabilia was started by two fans of the airline as a temporary location until they could set it up in one of Jan Smuts International's buildings in 1987. The museum has since relocated to Rand Airport (FAGM).

Aircraft Viewing Decks

The airport has two viewing decks. One is located above the Central Terminal Building, and the other in an administrative section of the airport above the international check-in counters. There are regular displays of Oliver Reginald Tambo, the airport's namesake in the viewing decks.

O. R. Tambo International Airport has two runways (one pair of parallel runways) adjacent to the airport's terminal buildings. There used to be a third runway, 09/27, but was closed due to the danger it posed. It is now taxiway Juliet.

Another decomissioned runway includes runway 14/32, crossing runway 03L/21R and 03R/21L, which has since converted into taxiway Echo.

A new international terminal, named after Jean Batten, was built in 1977. Prior to this, all flights used what is now the domestic terminal. In 2005, the international terminal was altered, separating arriving and departing passengers.

As of today, O.R. Tambo International Airport consists of two terminals; the International Terminal and the Domestic Terminal. The two terminals are located approximately 500m apart and are connected by a free shuttle bus service and a signposted walkway. The airport has 65 gates in total, 21 with Jetbridges and 44 remote stands for aircraft parking.

There are six terminals at the airport, but these can be broken down into three major areas: the international terminals; the domestic terminals; and the transit terminals. The transit terminal housed disused parts of the old domestic terminals. It has been mostly demolished to build a new Central Terminal that will provide an indoor link between domestic and international terminals, as well as a central passenger check-in area and more gates. It was constructed for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Terminals A1 and A2 handle international passengers while the other two terminals handle domestic passengers. Due to the airport's design, departure and arrivals terminals are considered separate terminals. The Central Terminal that is under construction will be named Terminal A3 and it will be used for both international and domestic passengers. The airline Mango has its head office on the mezzanine level of the Domestic Departure Terminal.

The two terminals, Terminal A and Terminal B have been restructured. Several airlines now use Terminal B for all check-ins (top floor, adjacent to the arrivals atrium), for both national and international flights. The airlines that moved check-in to Terminal B include South African Airways, SA Airlink, South African Express and Air Mauritius.

Terminals A and B boast over 140 retail stores. The Duty-Free stores are based airside in Terminal A and many of them stock products exclusively available at the airport.

The ample parking available at O. R. Tambo International Airport was revamped as part of the upgrades made prior to the 2010 World Cup with the introduction of state-of-the-art technology that allows visitors to identify available parking spaces easily.

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