O. R. Tambo International Airport
Address: 1 Jones Rd, Kempton Park, Johannesburg, 1632, South Africa
IATA airport code: JNB
Contact number: +27 11 921 6262
Altitude: 1,694 m
JNB arrivals today
Discover OR Tambo international airport arrivals
O. R. Tambo International Airport is the official name for the international airport located near Johannesburg. The airport is located east of the city center at 23 km in Kempton Park. It’s 40 minutes driving by car from the city center to the airport. The airport can also be reached by taxi, bus or train. It is one of the busiest airports in Africa.
Under normal circumstances, more than 20 million passengers use Johannesburg Airport. Due to the pandemic, this was halved, but it is slowly rising back to the old numbers. Many flights are operated by Airlink to domestic airports or destinations in the region. In addition to many small airlines from the region, larger carriers from all over the world also fly to the airport. This is partly possible due to the extra long runway of more than 4.4 km. In addition, there is a second runway of 3.4 km. There are several terminals to keep everything running smoothly. That is why there is a division of transit, domestic and international flights.
History
The very first JNB airport arrivals took place in 1945 when it started as Palmietfontein International Airport. The airport was prosecuted about seven years later. In the 60’s and 70’s the airport grew steadily in facilities. The first flight to London was in 1971. During Apartheid in the 1980’s, all flights were canceled for some time. In 1996 it became the busiest airport in Africa to put Cairo Airport in second place. Over the past 10 years, the airport has slowly grown from 19 to 22 million passengers per year. In 2020 the OR Tambo flight arrivals were considerably less with 7 million passengers. JNB arrivals are mainly for the city of Johannesburg and people who want to do a safari.
Runways and terminals Johannesburg Airport
O. R. Tambo Airport Arrivals take place on 2 runways, the longest of which is even 4,400 feet. No problem to land the largest aircraft from Airbus and Boeing, among others. There are 3 terminals available. Terminal 1 (A) is for international Johannesburg Tambo Airport Arrivals and terminal 2 (B) is for domestic Johannesburg arrivals.
There are considerably more international OR Tambo flight arrivals compared to the other airports in South Africa. In 2019 there were 21,665,403 passengers. That was accompanied by 218,208 Johannesburg Airport arrivals. In 2020 there haven been a big decrease of passengers.
Lounges
Lounges domestic terminal: Bidvest, Menzies and the airlines British Airways and South African Airways Lounge.
Lounges at the international terminal: Bidvest, SAA, Emirates, Air France, Aspire, British Airways, and Virgin Atlantic lounge.
Airlines and destinations
Most domestic flights are operated by the following airlines:
- CemAir
- LIFT Airlines
- Mango
- FlySafair
- Kulula.com
The international O. R. Tambo arrivals fly from all over the world. A few important ones are:
- British Airways and Virgin Atlantic to London
- Turkish Airlines to Istanbul
- Titan Airways Malta to Maputo
- Singapore Airlines to Singapore
- Qantas to Sydney
- Lufthansa to Frankfurt
- Proflight Air Services and Airlink to Lusaka
- KLM to Amsterdam Schiphol
- Emirates to Dubai
- Delta Air Lines to Atlanta
- Kenya Airways to Nairobi
- Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong
- Air France to Paris
- Harare
- Air China to Beijing and Shenzhen
- Gaborone
Most domestic flights go to:
OR Tambo Johannesburg Airport FlightRadar24
Johannesburg Airport ground transportation
The taxis are waiting in front of terminal A of the airport. This is the international arrival terminal. It is recommended to only take an official taxi with a meter. These taxis can be recognized by the sign with ‘taxi’ on it in yellow letters. A taxi ride from the airport to the center of Johannesburg with an official taxi costs about 20 euros. The journey takes more than half an hour.
The Gautrain runs every 12 minutes between 05:15 AM and 10:00 PM from the airport to Sandton Station. Here you can transfer to the train to Park Station, close to the center of Johannesburg. The total journey time is about 30 minutes, the price for a one-way ticket is 178 ZAR. You need a Gautrain Card to travel by train, which can be bought at the airport and in the city for 17 ZAR each.
You can easily rent a car at the airport. There are well known car rental comapnies like Avis, Europcar, Hertz etc. Also, local ones are available like First Car Rental, Tempest, Bivest, Woodford and some others.
Hotels
There are many hotels near the airport. If you do have a stopover, early flight or a late arrival, then there are 2 obvious options to use as a transit hotel and 1 on a short distance. They all score good reviews online.
- Option 1: City Lodge Hotel at OR Tambo International Airport. They offer double rooms for a price of about 110 EUR/USD or 1900 Rand/ZAR. Breakfast can be booked for 10 EUR/USD. The room is fully equipped. There is also a swimming pool, free WiFi, fitness center and a bar. You can use the restaurant Soaring Eagle Spur Steak Ranch in the terminal.
- Option 2: InterContinental Johannesburg OR Tambo Airport Hotel, an IHG Hotel. This is a luxury 5* hotel that is connected to the terminal of Johannesburg Airport. Here too there is a wellness centre, swimming pool and free WiFi. There are more options here in terms of rooms with a price that starts at 300 EUR/USD.
- Option 3: Southern Sun Airport Hotel.
