O R Tambo International Airport lies close to the city of Johannesburg in South Africa. It is a huge airport located in Kempton Park at Gauteng. This airport serves as the chief airport for domestic and international to and from South Africa. It is the busiest airport of South Africa and handles nearly 19,440,000 passengers every year. The O R Tambo International Airport is the centre for major international and domestic carrier in South Africa like South African Airways and many other small and local airlines. Officially, this airport is called as the Johannesburg International Airport.
The airport was established in the year 1952 and was earlier called as the Jan Smuts International Airport due to the ICAO code of this airport as FAJS. This was named after the South African statesman. It was renamed in the year 1994 but later again the airport was renamed on 27 October 2006 and was named after the former President of the African National Congress who was Oliver Tambo.
The airport code is JNB and has two distinct terminals. It also has its own official website as www.asca.co.za. It is considered as a ‘hot and high’ airport that lies at 1700 metres above the sea level. Here the Washington-Johannesburg flight is among the greatest commercial non-stop flights in overall world. You will get two parallel runways at the airport that runs north-south direction. The western runway has a length of more than 4400 metre which is the longest international airport runways in the world. The runway is long because of the atmosphere problem that makes the flight to take off slowly.
This airport also serves as grounds for the South African Airways Museum. It is a room that is packed with South African Airways memorabilia which was started as a plan given by two fans of the airline. The major development is in progress for the airport. The international terminal will also be expanded so that it could house the new Airbus A380. Well, the development will take place in a huge manner that will change the looks of the airport and ultimately its capacity will also get increased.
The airlines that operates from this airport are 1Time, Afriqiyah Airways, Air Austral, Air Botswana, Air France, Air Madagascar, Air Malawi, Air Mauritius, Air Namibia, Air Seychelles, Air Zimbabwe, Arik Air, Bellview Airlines, British Airways, British Airways that are operated by Comair, Cathay Pacific, Delta Air Lines, EgyptAir, El Al, Emirates, Ethiopian Airlines, Etihad Airways, Gabon Airlines, Hewa Bora Airways, Iberia, Interair South Africa, Interlink Airlines, Kenya Airways, KLM, Kulula.com, Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique, Lufthansa, Malaysia Airlines, Mango, Pelican Air Services, Phoebus Apollo Aviation, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Rwandair Express, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, South African Airlink, South African Express, Swiss International Air Lines, TAAG Angola Airlines, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, V Australia, Virgin Atlantic and Zambezi Airlines.
Besides these, the Cargos that are operated from here are Atlas Air, Cargolux, Emirates SkyCargo, FedEx Express, Lufthansa Cargo, Martinair Cargo, MK Airlines, Safair, Singapore Airlines Cargo, Tramon Air and WDA.
To reach to this airport you can travel by rail. Gautrain station connected the airport to the Sandton. You can easily get accessed by car. The airport lies in North-East Johannesburg on the R24 Airport Freeway. This can also be accessed through N3 Eastern Bypass and R21 highway. Bus services are also available here. You will get five bus city lines that are functioned by Metrobus and Putco. The buses pass the airport twice everyday. Other private buses are also available here in a large number. A shuttle bus is continuously functions between the terminals and car parks.
You can hire cars of various companies like Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz, Imperial, Khaya, National, Sizwe and Tempest. You will get them in the multi-storey car park opposite domestic terminal. For bus you will get Magic Bus Airport Transfers that provides minibus services to and from the city. Taxis that are official are also functions from the bus and taxi terminal. For any information you can contact the airport information desks that are situated in International arrivals and departures and also domestic arrivals.
At the airport you will get all the basic facilities like ATMs, banks and bureaux de change, post office, wireless internet access and few others. You will also get many places to eat and drink like coffee shops, juice bar, steak houses, bakery and also a fast food restaurant. There is a huge variation of shops and duty-free shops where you can try shopping. Left luggage facilities are also available at the airport. You will also get facilities like conference and business. You have a Business Centre where fax, telephone and secretarial services are available. The airport also provides lifts for the disabled travellers. Disabled parking spaces are also there. Rest of the basic facilities like wheelchair and assistance are available for the disabled travellers.
You can also rest at the 5 star Airport Sun InterContinental Hotel situated in the airport. You will also get a small Transit Hotel. Close to the airport you will get the Southern Sun O R Tambo International Airport and the Southern Sun Garden Court. At the international arrivals you will get accommodation information. For that you need to go to the Gauteng Tourism Authority Information Desk.
It is said that Gauteng offers among the world’s best climates where the summer season are hot and wind free and the winter season are crisp and clear. Also Gauteng offers plenty of attractions to the tourists like museums, galleries, nature, historical battlefields, and entertainment playground that offer world class restaurants, shebeens, shopping malls and music venues. The major attraction of Gauteng is its big business. This place is often called as Place of Gold. There is so much to see at Gauteng though it is a very small province of South Africa. The natural colour blends with the historical monuments and offers a distinct look of this place. And the weather of Gauteng makes the over all attractions more awesome. So just once, visit this place by enjoy the facilities of O R Tambo International Airport.
