Rand Airport
| Rand Airport | |||||||||||||||
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Rand Airport Control Tower from landside
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
| Operator | Rand Airport Management Company (Pty) Ltd. | ||||||||||||||
| Location | Germiston, Gauteng | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 1,671 m / 5,482 ft | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 26°14′33″S 028°09′04″E / 26.24250°S 28.15111°ECoordinates: 26°14′33″S 028°09′04″E / 26.24250°S 28.15111°E | ||||||||||||||
| Website | http://www.randairport.co.za | ||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||
 QRA
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| Runways | |||||||||||||||
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Rand Airport (IATA: QRA, ICAO: FAGM) is an airport in Germiston, South Africa. It was constructed in the 1920s as the main airport for Johannesburg, but the city outgrew it and replaced the airport firstly with Palmietfontein Airport in the late 1940s, then with the larger Jan Smuts International Airport in the 1950s.
South African Airways donated two Boeing 747s to the "South African Airways Museum Society" which are on display at the airport (see Gallery). They can be clearly seen on Google Earth adjacent to the threshold of runway 29.
The airport was officially opened on 21 December 1931 owned jointly by the Germiston City Council, the Rand Gold Refinery and Elandsfontein Estates. It became the headquarters of South African Airways when the head office was moved from Durban to Rand Airport on 1 July 1935.
SAA moved its headquarters to Palmietfontein Airport in 1948 because of runway length constraints. Nevertheless, Rand Airport grew quickly after the World War II because of the pool of ex air-force pilots. In 1975, with 133 135 recorded aircraft movements, Rand Airport was the busiest airport in the southern hemisphere.
The ownership of the airport has been remarkably steady since the buy-out, a testimony to how well the original ownership structure was conceived and assembled. There were originally 23 private shareholders and there has been very little change. Most of the re-sales have been taken up by existing owners under new company names so there has been a small increase to the current 25 owners, plus the Mayondi BEE consortium and Ekurhuleni Town Council. The ownership structure of the airport is unique in that most of the hangars are owned with full freehold title. Some of the tenants elected not to buy their hangars and so these are owned by the Airport Holding company and are leased to tenants, which provides essential long term income for the airport and additional revenue to maintain and improve the facilities.
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Wikipedia