OR Tambo International Airport (Gautrain station)

O. R. Tambo International Airport Johannesburg International Airport
IATA: JNB ICAO: FAOR WMO: 68368
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Airports Company South Africa
Serves	Johannesburg, South Africa Pretoria, South Africa
Location	Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, South Africa
Hub for	Airlink Comair FlySafair South African Airways South African Express Mango Kulula
Elevation AMSL	5,558 ft / 1,694 m
Coordinates	26°08′21″S 028°14′46″E / 26.13917°S 28.24611°E / -26.13917; 28.24611Coordinates: 26°08′21″S 028°14′46″E / 26.13917°S 28.24611°E / -26.13917; 28.24611
Map
JNB Location in Greater Johannesburg
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 03L/21R 14,495 4,418 Asphalt 03R/21L 11,155 3,400 Asphalt
Statistics (Apr 2015 - Mar 2016)
Passengers 20,375,626 Aircraft movements 224,191 Economic impact $3.2 billion Social impact 128.2 thousand
Source: Passenger Statistics

O. R. Tambo International Airport (IATA: JNB, ICAO: FAOR) (ORTIA) is a major international airport in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, South Africa, near the city of Johannesburg. 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 with non-stop flights to all continents except Antarctica. The airport is the hub of South Africa's largest international and domestic carrier, South African Airways (SAA), and a number of smaller local airlines. The airport handled a total of 18 million passengers in 2014.

It was originally known as Jan Smuts International Airport (hence the airport's former ICAO code, "FAJS"), after South Africa's former prime minister of that name. The airport was renamed Johannesburg International Airport in 1994 when the newly reformed South African government implemented a national policy of not naming airports after politicians. The policy was however reversed later, and the airport renamed again on 27 October 2006 after Oliver Tambo, a former President of the African National Congress.

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

It was used as a test airport for the Concorde during the 1970s, to determine how the aircraft would perform while taking off and landing at high altitude. During the 1980s, many countries stopped trading with South Africa because of the United Nation sanctions imposed against South Africa in the struggle against apartheid, and many international airlines had to stop flying to the airport. These sanctions also resulted in South African Airways being refused rights to fly over most African countries, and in addition to this, the risk of flying over some African countries was emphasised by the shooting down of two passenger aircraft over Rhodesia (Air Rhodesia Flight 825 and 827), forcing them to fly around the "bulge" of Africa. This required specially-modified aircraft like the Boeing 747SP. Following the ending of apartheid, the airport's name, and that of other international airports in South Africa, were changed and these restrictions were lifted.