O.R. Tambo International Airport

O.R. Tambo International is the largest and busiest airport on the African continent, ranked by BigAirports as Africa's principal long-haul gateway and the dominant hub of South African Airways. Located 24 km east of central Johannesburg at the unusually high elevation of 5,558 ft (1,694 m) on the Highveld plateau, JNB handles roughly 21M passengers annually and functions as the primary trans-African connecting point for traffic moving between Europe, the Americas, Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The airport operates from two runways — 03L/21R at 14,495 ft (4,418 m) and 03R/21L at 11,155 ft (3,400 m) — the long runway engineered specifically to accommodate fully loaded wide-bodies departing at high density-altitude for non-stops to the United States, Asia and Australia. Passenger facilities are split between Terminal A (international) and Terminal B (domestic/regional), connected airside and landside with a central retail concourse. The Gautrain station sits between the terminals on the upper level. JNB serves 158 scheduled routes to 77 destinations via 51 airlines — a carrier count that reflects its role as the continent's principal Star Alliance, SkyTeam and Oneworld crossover hub. Ultra-long-haul service includes Atlanta (Delta), New York-JFK (South African, United), Washington-Dulles, Atlanta and direct Perth, Sydney and Guangzhou rotations. Emirates, Qatar, Turkish, Lufthansa, British Airways, KLM, Air France, Ethiopian and Kenya Airways all maintain significant frequencies. The domestic and regional network anchors connectivity to Cape Town, Durban, Windhoek, Harare, Maputo and dozens of secondary cities. JNB is also the largest cargo gateway in sub-Saharan Africa and a primary MRO base for the region.