A major travel hub in South Africa has firmly established itself among the very best in African aviation, having secured multiple accolades at the 2025 Skytrax World Airport Awards earlier this year. Located just 12 miles from its city’s main economic hub, this airport is the second-busiest in the country and the fourth-busiest on the entire continent.
Cape Town International Airport (CPT) was first opened in 1954 to replace Cape Town’s previous airport, Wingfield Aerodrome and offers direct flights to destinations across Africa as well as the Middle East, Asia, Europe, South America, the US and Australia. Nationally, its air route to Johannesburg was Africa’s busiest domestic route, carrying roughly five million passengers in 2023 based on seat capacity numbers. At this year’s award ceremony, Cape Town International Airport was recognised as the best airport in Africa, as well also clinching honours for Best Airport Staff Service and Cleanest Airport in Africa.
The airport was first opened in 1954, a year after Jan Smuts Airport (now O. R. Tambo International Airport) near Johannesburg opened. Originally named Bellville Airport due to its proximity to the town of the same name, it initially served as a domestic airport. It was then renamed after the then South African prime minister D.F. Malan, before being renamed again to the politically neutral Cape Town International Airport with the fall of apartheid in the early 1990s.
In 2018, a proposal to rename the airport once again after Nelson Mandela was tabled, but in February 2021, the plan was officially abandoned due to a lack of consensus.
In preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the airport underwent extensive expansion and renovation. The main focus was the development of a Central Terminal Building at a cost of R1.6 billion (£67.3 million), which linked the formerly separate domestic and international terminals and provided a common check-in area. A secondary runway was also built, measuring 5,577ft compared to the main runway at 10,499ft.
Then in 2019, the airport announced a further R7 billion (£294 million) infrastructure investment plan, including runway realignment, terminal refurbishments and other expansions. However, this was postponed indefinitely after a drop in passenger numbers due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Each year, the airport handles over 5.4 million departing passengers and nearly 51,500 arriving air traffic movements, according to Airports Company South Africa.
There are two hotels located within the airport precinct, the first being Hotel Verde, a four-star hotel owned by Bon Hotels and ranked as “Africa’s greenest hotel” while the other is Road Lodge, a budget hotel owned by the City Lodge hotel chain group.
Airlines that fly to Cape Town International Airport include British Airways on its year-round Heathrow route and its seasonal Gatwick route, Emirates, Lufthansa, KLM, Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways, Virgin Atlantic on its seasonal Heathrow route, and United Airlines from Newark and Washington-Dulles.
In the Skytrax Awards, Singapore Changi Airport claimed the title of the Best Airport in the World, also taking home awards for Best Dining, Best Washrooms, and Best Airport in Asia. The awards are based on a comprehensive global airport customer satisfaction survey of 575 airports worldwide, conducted between August 2024 and February 2025.
