Kimberley is the second-smallest of the nine state-operated airports, with 170,738 passengers in 2025/26. Like the other inland airports it peaks in March, and its month-to-month swing is among the widest in the country.
From the operator’s monthly filings · FY2025/26
- 170,738passengers, FY2025/26
- +4.9%against the previous year
- 0%of them international
- Marchbusiest month
- Januaryquietest month
- 7 kmto Kimberley
A 53 per cent swing between its best and worst month
Kimberley’s busiest month is March and its quietest is January — a spread of 53 per cent, against 31 per cent at O. R. Tambo. Small airports swing harder because a handful of flights makes a large proportional difference, and because their traffic is almost entirely business and administrative rather than leisure.
January being the trough is the opposite of the coastal pattern, where January is a strong month. It is the clearest illustration of how little the holiday calendar touches the Northern Cape.
What it serves
Kimberley is the capital of the Northern Cape and the home of the Big Hole, the diamond-rush excavation that built the city. The airport is seven kilometres out, domestic only, and the practical arrival route from abroad is a connection through Johannesburg.
Practicalities
One small terminal. Ninety minutes before a flight is generous. Parking is a short walk, hire cars are in the arrivals hall, and there is no train. The food offer closes when the last flight has gone, which on a quiet evening can be early.
Parking, hire cars and distances
Seven kilometres from the city, parking a short walk from the doors in every tier, hire-car desks in the arrivals hall. Kimberley is a long way from everywhere: Bloemfontein is about 160 km east, Upington 400 km north-west, Johannesburg 470 km north-east. Plan the car before you plan the flight.
What the airport serves
The Big Hole is the reason most visitors come — the hand-dug diamond excavation that created the city, with the adjoining mine museum. Kimberley also has a dense concentration of Anglo-Boer War sites, and the city itself was the first in the southern hemisphere to have electric street lighting.
Further out, the Northern Cape opens up: the Karoo to the south, the Kalahari to the north-west, and the spring flower season in Namaqualand far to the west in August and September.
Month by month
Five years of traffic
South African financial years, 1 April to 31 March. Compiled from the operator’s own monthly passenger-movement statements. How we check these figures.
The second-most seasonal airport in South Africa
Kimberley is small — 170,738 passengers in 2025/26 — and it swings more than almost anywhere else. Its busiest month runs 53 per cent above its quietest, behind only Upington at 76 per cent, and far above O. R. Tambo at 31.
What makes it genuinely unusual is when. Kimberley peaks in March and empties in January — the exact inverse of the coastal airports, which fill in December and January and empty in winter. This is one of the three interior airports, with Bram Fischer and Upington, whose traffic follows the business, mining and agricultural calendar rather than the school holidays. In January, when half of South Africa is on the move, the Northern Cape is not.
If you are planning a trip around crowds rather than weather, that inversion is the single most useful thing on this page. The month-by-month figures for every airport.
Why there is no photograph on this page
Every other airport page on this site opens with a photograph of that airport. This one opens with a board tile instead, and the reason is worth stating.
We have not found a freely licensed photograph that we can verify is Kimberley Airport. One candidate exists in the public archives, filed under the right category, but its own title places it in a different photographic set and we cannot confirm what it shows. Putting a picture of a different airport on a page about this one would be worse than having no picture at all, so there is none. If you have taken one and would like to licence it to us, tell us.
Practical notes
- No international flights. Kimberley recorded none in 2025/26, so arriving from abroad means a connection, in practice at O. R. Tambo. Allow two hours there, not one. Why.
- An hour before a domestic departure is enough. The terminal is small and the check-in cut-off, around 45 minutes, is the only fixed point.
- Eat before you come. Catering at an airport this size tracks the flight schedule and may be closed between services.
- A hire car is close to essential. The Northern Cape is large, the towns are far apart and there is no train.
Common questions
What is the code for Kimberley airport?
KIM is the IATA code and FAKM the ICAO code.
When is Kimberley airport busiest?
March. Its quietest month is January — the reverse of the coastal airports, because its traffic is business rather than holiday.
How far is Kimberley from Johannesburg?
About 470 km by road, or a short domestic flight. Bloemfontein is 160 km east and Upington 400 km north-west.