Johannesburg International Airport is the largest airport in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa and one of the largest airports in Sub-Saharan Africa. It was formerly known as Jan Smuts International Airport after a famous South African statesman, but it was renamed in the mid 1990s. Its IATA Airport Code is JNB. Its ICAO Airport Code is FAJS. The airport is the hub of South Africa's largest international and domestic airline, South African Airways, and a number of smaller local airlines.

History

The airport was founded in 1952 as Jan Smuts Airport. In the same year of its inception, it had the honourable distinction of ushering in the Jet Age, when the first commercial flight of a De Havilland Comet jet took off from London Heathrow International Airport bound for Johannesburg.

Johannesburg International Airport 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 Apartheid, and so many airlines had to stop flying to the airport. In addition, South African Airways was refused rights to fly over most African countries, forcing them to fly around the "bulge" of Africa. This required specially-modified aircraft like the Boeing 747-SP . Following the advent of majority rule in 1994, the airport's name was changed to its current, politically-neutral, name.

The airport overtook Cairo International Airport in 1996 as the busiest airport in Africa, and is the second-busiest airport in the Africa-Middle East region after Dubai. Figures for 2002 show that more than 12 million people passed through the airport, an increase of some 8% on 2001 figures. Figures for 2003 show that some 13.5 million people used the airport, an increase of 6% over 2002. The airport is one of the 100 busiest in the world ([www.airlinerworld.com]).

There are plans, as of 2004, to create a new transit terminal between the domestic and international terminals, which will also house the Gautrain station linking the airport to Sandton, one of the metropolitan area's main business districts and a primary tourist area.

Other Notes

Johannesburg International Airport is regarded as a "hot and high" or a "high and dry" airport. Situated some 1500 metres above sea level, the air is dry and thin, especially in winter. Even in summer, when it rains, the air is still relatively dry and hot. This has implications for the performance of aircraft at altitude. For example, a flight from Johannesburg to New York, making use of either a Boeing 747-400 or an Airbus A340-600, must stop at Lagos, Dakar or Ilha do Sal for refuelling, since the aircraft is not able to make the run on one tank of fuel. This is because of decreased performance on take-off from the airport, where an aircraft cannot take off fully laden with fuel, cargo and passengers, and must use a longer stretch of runway to reach take-off velocity. By contrast, the return leg of the flight from New York to Johannesburg is a non-stop 14-hour flight, with better performance of the aircraft in New York because the city is at sea level. The Johannesburg-New York flight is the third-longest commercial flight in the world, after Singapore - Los Angeles and New York - Hong Kong.

There are two parallel runways, which run north-south, and a disused cross runway. Length of the runways is around 3500 metres each. During busy periods, outbound flights use the inner runway (closest to the terminals) for take-off, while inbound flights use the outer runway for landing. Wind factors may cause numerous variations, but on most days flights will take off to the north and land from the south.

There are six terminals at the airport, but these can be broken down into three major areas: the international terminal; the domestic terminal; and the transit terminal. The transit terminal houses disused parts of the old domestic terminals and is to be upgraded to create a functional link between domestic and international.

The airport is likely to see the arrival of the new Airbus A380 in its first years of service, as Airbus has already listed the airport as one of the few destinations worldwide capable of handling the aircraft, and also because many international airlines operate long-haul routes to Johannesburg. For example, there are five daily flights from London, all making use of Boeing 747-400s. Flights to Johannesburg and Cape Town are two of British Airways' most popular routes.

Johannesburg International also serves as grounds for the South African Airways Museum , a room filled with South African Airways memorabilia and which started as an idea by two fans of the airline until they could set it up in one of Jan Smuts International's buildings in 1987.

Airlines

• African International
• Air Austral
• Air Botswana
• Air France
• Air Gabon
• Air Madagascar
• Air Malawi
• Air Mauritius
• Air Namibia
• Air Seychelles
• Air Tanzania
• Air Zimbabwe
• Alitalia
• Angola Air Charter
• Austrian Airlines
• Balkan Bulgarian
• British Airways
• Cameroon Airlines
• Cathay Pacific
• Comair
• Egyptair
• El Al
• Emirates
• Ethiopian Airlines
• Ghana Airways
• Iberia
• KLM
• Kenya Airways
• LAM
• Lufthansa
• Malaysian Airlines
• Martinair
• Metavia
• Nationwide Air
• Olympic Airlines
• Qantas
• Qatar Airways (Starting 10 January 2005)
• Royal Air Maroc
• Saudi Arabian Airlines
• Singapore Airlines
• South African Airlink
• South African Airways
• South African Express
• Swiss International Air Lines
• Turkish Airlines
• Uganda Airlines
• Transportes Aéreos Portugueses

In addition, Cargo flights are flown there by DAS Air Cargo, Fast Air and Singapore Airlines Cargo.

External link

• Johannesburg International Airport Homepage