Joahannesburg, South Africa - Jan Smuts Airport Holiday Inn - postcard c.1980s

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  Holiday Inn, Jan Smuts Airport / Lughawe, Kempton Park [now OR Tambo Airport]
• Publisher: Holiday Inn 
• Postally used: no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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O. R. Tambo International Airport (IATA: JNB, ICAO: FAOR) is a major international airport situated in Kempton Park, Gauteng. It serves as the primary airport for domestic and international travel to/from South Africa and is Africa's busiest airport with a capacity to handle up to 28 million passengers annually[3] The airport serves as the hub for South African Airways. The airport handled a total of over 21 million passengers in 2017.

It was originally known as Jan Smuts International Airport,[4] after the former South African Prime Minister of the same name. The airport was renamed Johannesburg International Airport in 1994 when the newly elected African National Congress government implemented a policy of not naming airports after politicians. The policy was reversed later, and the airport was renamed again on 27 October 2006 after Oliver Reginald Tambo; a former President of the African National Congress.[5]

The airport was founded in 1952 as Jan Smuts Airport, two years after his death, near the town of Kempton Park on the East Rand. It replaced Palmietfontein International Airport, which had handled European flights since 1945.

In 1943, a decision was made by the Cabinet of the Union of South Africa to construct three international airports with a Civil Airports Advisory Committee formed to investigate and report on the viability.[6]:224 That report was submitted to the Cabinet in March 1944 with one main international airport on the Witwatersrand and two smaller international airports at Cape Town and Durban.[6]:224 The South African Railways and Harbours Administration was given the role of managing the project and later in 1944, a member sent to the United States to study standards and methods of construction.[6]:224–5 Four possible sites around Johannesburg were identified, with one south of Johannesburg chosen but soon discarded due to being situated on land with gold bearing reefs below.[6]:225 Sites were then narrowed down to Kempton Park and the existing airport at Palmietfontein.[6]:225

Layouts and rough costing for the two sites were established and submitted for a ministerial decision.[6]:226 The site would be at Kempton Park and be named Jan Smuts Airport.[6]:226 The area outside Kempton Park, was an expropriated undulating dairy farm of 3,706 acres with a 598 acre eucalyptus plantation.[6]:227 Sitting on a plateau, the area sloped away towards the east.[6]:227 The area was drained by the Blesbok River.[6]:227

In the late-1950s, jet passenger aircraft became the norm and there was a need to expand the existing ground facilities at the airport and this began in the 1960s and early-1970s. In addition to the new airside facilities, ground developments included: improved road access, parking areas, hotel, retail areas and car hire.[7]:50

The late-1960s saw a new choice of aircraft for South African Airways, the Boeing 747.[8]:339 A decision was made by the Minister of Transport of three, later five 747s for the airline.[8]:339 Delivery would begin in October 1971 with the first flight to London on 10 December 1971 with daily services from February 1972.[8]:339 These purchases however required new hangar facilities with the contract awarded in September 1969 initially worth R2,983,408.[8]:339 Construction started in December 1968 and was completed in October 1971 for R8,000,000 while other work at the airport associated with the arrival of these new aircraft brought the costs to R40,000,000.[8]:341 Other new buildings such as workshops, testing facilities, stores, staff accommodation and air cargo handling building were built. The new hangar would allow for two 747s with each bay with dimensions of 73.2 m wide, 24.4 m high and a depth of 91.4 m.[8]:341

It was used as a test airport for Concorde during the 1970s, to determine how the aircraft would perform while taking off and landing at high elevations ('hot and high' testing).[9] During the 1980s, many countries stopped trading with South Africa because of the United Nation sanctions imposed against South Africa in the struggle against apartheid, and many international airlines stopped flying to the airport. These sanctions also resulted in South African Airways being refused rights to fly over most African countries, and in addition to this, the risk of flying over some African countries was emphasised by the shooting down of two passenger aircraft over Rhodesia (e.g. Air Rhodesia Flight 825 and 827),[10] forcing them to fly around the "bulge" of Africa. This required specially-modified aircraft like the long-range Boeing 747SP. A second runway was built at the airport in the late-1980s.[7]:50

In December 1993, a R120,000,000 upgrade at the airport was completed.[11]:14 The main part of the projects was an 880 m, 3000 t steel airside corridor consisting of two levels high of 6 m wide with thirteen passenger bridges.[11]:14 The upper levels are connected the departure lounges through security screening points. Lower levels are for arrivals for entry into the immigration and custom areas.[11]:14 A future provision for extensions to this airside corridor was included in the design.[11]:14 A new airside bus terminal was also added for bussing in passengers to aircraft not able dock next to the terminal. Other parts of the project included upgrading the terminal facilities for the passengers.[11]:14

Following the ending of apartheid, the airport's name, and that of other international airports in South Africa, were changed and these restrictions were lifted. With the creation of the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) in the mid-nineties, a plan to commercialise the airport begun with new passenger and retail and airside facilities to handle a larger amount of planes completing this phase in 2004.[7]:50

The airport overtook Cairo International Airport in 1996 as the busiest airport in Africa[12] and is the fourth-busiest airport in the Africa–Middle East region after Dubai International Airport, Hamad International Airport, and Abu Dhabi International Airport. In fiscal year 2010, the airport handled 8.82 million departing passengers.[13]

In late 2005, a name change was proposed for the airport to "O. R. Tambo International", after former ANC President and anti-apartheid activist Oliver Reginald Tambo, an apparent change to the precedent of neutrally-named airports. The name change was formally announced in the Government Gazette of South Africa on 30 June 2006, allowing a 30-day window for the public to register objections. The name change was implemented on 27 October 2006 with the unveiling of new signs at the airport. Critics noted the considerable expense involved in renaming the airport, and the decision to use a politician as the name would be obscure, confusing and in some instances, offensive. Corne Mulder of the Freedom Front Plus has stamped the renaming "nothing less than political opportunism and attempts by the ANC government to dodge the true socio-economic issues of the country".[14] Unnecessary confusion can be caused, for O. R. Tambo is also a district municipality in the Eastern Cape, seated in Mthatha. The town of Mthatha has an international airport known as Mthatha Airport, formerly named the K. D. Matanzima Airport after former Transkei President Kaiser Matanzima.

On 26 November 2006, the airport became the first in Africa to host the Airbus A380.[15] The aircraft landed in Johannesburg on its way to Sydney via the South Pole on a test flight.

There was no provision for rapid train access until 2010, when the Gautrain project would allow train passengers to reach the airport from the Johannesburg CBD, Sandton and Pretoria.[7]:50