Every South African airport, by the numbers

Twenty-two South African airports have an IATA code and scheduled passenger flights. Nine of them are run by Airports Company South Africa and file monthly passenger returns; those nine carried 41,135,224 passengers in the 2025/26 financial year. Each has a page here, built on its own filings rather than on a press release.

Three airports carry nine in ten passengers

O. R. Tambo, Cape Town and King Shaka between them moved 37,033,334 of the network’s 41.1 million passengers — 90 per cent. Everything else is, in practice, a connection.

Only three see international passengers

This is the single most useful thing to understand before booking, and almost nobody states it plainly. In 2025/26, scheduled international traffic was recorded at exactly three of the nine: O. R. Tambo (8,196,340), Cape Town (3,128,631) and King Shaka (296,387). Chief Dawid Stuurman in Gqeberha recorded 70 international passengers for the entire year. George, East London, Bram Fischer, Kimberley and Upington recorded none at all.

Several of those airports are still called “International” in their official names. That reflects customs facilities rather than a current route network.

The coast peaks in December. The interior peaks in March.

Six of the nine are busiest in December, driven by the southern-hemisphere summer holidays and the coastal exodus. The three inland airports — Bram Fischer, Kimberley and Upington — peak in March instead, because their traffic follows the business and agricultural calendar rather than the school year.

The size of that swing also varies far more than people expect. Upington moves 76 per cent between its best and worst month; O. R. Tambo only 31. Each airport page carries its own month-by-month figures.

Domestic and regionalInternationalMonthly average

April3,444,588+0.5%

May3,087,229−9.9%

June3,008,907−12.2%

July3,306,627−3.5%

August3,338,549−2.6%

September3,348,861−2.3%

October3,755,492+9.6%

November3,417,743−0.3%

December4,013,840+17.1%

January3,560,948+3.9%

February3,214,922−6.2%

March3,637,518+6.1%

All twenty-two airports

Thirteen more airports have an IATA code and scheduled service but file no public monthly returns. Several matter a great deal to the traveller even though they move comparatively few people: Skukuza is inside the Kruger National Park, Hoedspruit serves the private reserves, and Lanseria is a serious alternative to O. R. Tambo for anyone staying north of Johannesburg.

IATA	ICAO	Airport	City	Province	Operator
JNB	FAOR	O. R. Tambo International	Johannesburg	Gauteng	ACSA
CPT	FACT	Cape Town International	Cape Town	Western Cape	ACSA
DUR	FALE	King Shaka International	Durban	KwaZulu-Natal	ACSA
PLZ	FAPE	Chief Dawid Stuurman International	Gqeberha	Eastern Cape	ACSA
GRJ	FAGG	George	George	Western Cape	ACSA
ELS	FAEL	King Phalo	East London	Eastern Cape	ACSA
BFN	FABL	Bram Fischer International	Bloemfontein	Free State	ACSA
KIM	FAKM	Kimberley	Kimberley	Northern Cape	ACSA
UTN	FAUP	Upington International	Upington	Northern Cape	ACSA
HLA	FALA	Lanseria International	Johannesburg	Gauteng	Private
MQP	FAKN	Kruger Mpumalanga International	Mbombela	Mpumalanga	Private
SZK	FASZ	Skukuza	Skukuza, Kruger National Park	Mpumalanga	SANParks
HDS	FAHT	Eastgate	Hoedspruit	Limpopo	Other
PHW	FAPH	Hendrik Van Eck	Phalaborwa	Limpopo	Other
PTG	FAPP	Polokwane International	Polokwane	Limpopo	Other
UTT	FAUT	K. D. Matanzima	Mthatha	Eastern Cape	Other
PZB	FAPM	Pietermaritzburg	Pietermaritzburg	KwaZulu-Natal	Other
RCB	FARB	Richards Bay	Richards Bay	KwaZulu-Natal	Other
MGH	FAMG	Margate	Margate	KwaZulu-Natal	Other
MZQ	FAMU	Mkuze	Mkuze	KwaZulu-Natal	Other
MBD	FAMM	George Dick Montshioa	Mahikeng	North West	Other
SIS	FASS	Sishen	Sishen	Northern Cape	Other

Where the numbers come from

Airports Company South Africa publishes a passenger-movement statement for each of its nine airports, monthly, back to the 2012/13 financial year, split by international, regional, domestic and unscheduled traffic. We read those statements directly and check that the four categories add up to the printed total before publishing anything. For all nine airports in 2025/26 they reconcile to the passenger.

Lanseria and Kruger Mpumalanga are privately run and file nothing comparable, so their cells stay empty. Estimates for both circulate widely and we do not repeat them. The full sourcing note.