CAPE TOWN AIRPORT (CPT) INFORMATION

Cape Town International Airport, formerly known as D.F Malan Airport, is one of South Africa’s largest airports, and is located approximately 20 km, or 12 miles from the city center of Cape Town. Over 10 million passengers pass through the airport each year, and this traffic figure determines the facility to be the second largest in South Africa, and the third largest airport on the continent of Africa. Cape Town Airport consists of a number of air terminal buildings, dedicated to the arrival and departure of domestic and international passengers, and a wide selection of airline carriers serve a number of destinations.

Cape Town Airport was established in 1954, which was shortly after the larger airport of Johannesburg was opened. This is South Africa’s largest airport, located on the Witwatersrand, and is today known as O.R Tambo International Airport. Its former name was Jan Smuts. Cape Town Airport’s previous name of D.F Malan was in honor of the South African Prime Minister of that time. Cape Town had another airport located at Wingfield, but this airport was replaced by the current Cape Town International Airport, which now handles all flights to and from the city. When the famous apartheid era of South Africa collapsed in the early 1990’s, the airport’s management was taken over by the newly-formed Airports Company South Africa, and hence the change in the airport’s official name.

The Airports Company South Africa, or ACSA, is the largest airports authority in the country, and is responsible for the management of ten major airports, which include the airports in Johannesburg and Durban. Collectively, the airports under the ACSA management handle over 23 million passengers, and more than 200,000 aircraft landings per year. The company was established in 1993, and has succeeding in transforming its airports into hugely profitable and world-class facilities. The major improvements which took place at many of the airports were partly the reason for South Africa’s achievement of being chosen as the hosting country for the 2010 FIFA World Cup final tournament. The ACSA company and the airports under its control have won many awards for their impeccable services. Cape Town International Airport, in particular, has received the World Travel ‘Leading Airport in Africa Award’, was placed second in the ratings for the best airport in the Middle East/Africa region, and in 2009, received the Skytrax Award for the ‘Best Airport in Africa’ position.

Arrivals and Departures at Cape Town Airport

• See live flight arrivals information at Cape Town Airport
• See live flight departures information at Cape Town Airport

Cape Town International Airport handled 10.7 million passengers in 2018, which was a significant increase from earlier years, when the airport was handling around six million passengers back in 2004. The majority of passengers at Cape Town International airport are domestic, while approximately a million and a half are international, flying to and from destinations such as London-Heathrow, Amsterdam and Singapore. British Airways, KLM and South African Airways are the main airline carriers for these destinations, as well as Singapore Airlines. South African Express and South African Airways handle many of the domestic flights to destinations such as Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth, as well as airline companies such as Kulula.com and Mango. South African Express also travels to Maputo, Walvis Bay and Windhoek-Hosea Kutako. Other airline companies offering their services at Cape Town International Airport include Air Mauritius, Airlink, Emirates, Malaysia Airlines, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Qatar Airways and Velvet Sky.

Since the year 2000, Cape Town Airport’s terminal buildings have been extensively upgraded. In 2001, a new International Arrivals terminal was completed, and in 2003, the airport had a newly re-furbished International Departures terminal to the value of R120-million. The most recent developments of the airport were in preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, whereby the International and Domestic terminals were joined with the construction of a Central Terminal Building at a cost of R1.6 Billion. This additional has now given the airport a common, and central check-in area consisting of 120 check-in desks, and 20 self-service kiosks. Check-in for all airlines take place in this building, before passenger’s part towards their domestic or international departure lounges. The new Central Terminal has a departures level which opened in November 2009, and the whole building was operational by March 2010.

Future additions planned for Cape Town Airport include a second runway for larger sized aircraft. The expansion project is set to start construction at the end of 2018 and to be completed by mid 2022.

All departures are handled from the upper floors of the terminals, while the arrival levels are found on the lower floors. Vehicles can access both areas from the elevated roadway system. There are ten air bridges at the airport, five of which are used for domestic flights, and five for international flights and the new arrivals area handles 30,000 bags per hour from its automated baggage handling system. Retail and restaurant facilities are found on the upper level of the airport, above the departures level, along with the viewing deck which offers wonderful sights of aircraft operations. There are many retail outlets and other useful facilities available, including a conference center, banks, pharmacies and forex services. Cape Town Airport also has the largest Spur restaurant on the African continent, measuring 1,080 square meters.

Transfer Services at Cape Town Airport

There are a number of car rental companies at Cape Town Airport and a number of ground transportation options for onward travel from the airport.

Cape Town Airport’s address is Private Bag X9002, Cape Town International Airport, 7525, and has a call center available at +27 (021) 937 1200. Customers can also use the email address of customercare@airports.co.za. Access to the airport is provided by the major N2 highway, from which the Airport Approach Road leads directly to the terminals. The prominent R300 freeway also provides indirect access via the M12, M10 and M22. Further information on all the facilities and flight schedules at Cape Town International Airport is available online, at http://www.airports.co.za/airports/cape-town-international.

The (IATA) 3 letter code for Cape Town Airport is CPT named by the International Air Transport Association in Quebec, Canada. Cape Town Airport is also recognised as is Cape Town International locally. To aid your travel to Cape Town Airport the Geo coordinates are -33.96472, 18.60167 you can enter this into your tom tom or any in car GPS system to help to get directly to the Cape Town International Airport.

Hotels near Cape Town Airport

There are a number of hotels to suit all budgets and requirements at or near Cape Town Airport.

Parking at Cape Town Airport

See options for parking services at Cape Town Airport.

Additional Services and Amenities at Cape Town Airport

At Cape Town Airport you will find the usual array of bars and restaurants, airport lounges and shops.

• See all bars and restaurants inside Cape Town Airport
• See and book airport lounges at Cape Town Airport
• Plan your shopping in advance - see all the shops (including duty-free) at Cape Town Airport

Things to do in Cape Town

There are a number of activities to suit all ages and interests in the region - see a selection of tourist activities in Cape Town, South Africa.