Major changes on the cards for OR Tambo, Cape Town, and King Shaka international airports

The South African government is seeking higher levels of private investment in the country’s aviation network over the next five years.

This is one of the key goals of the National Airports Development Plan (NADP), which was gazetted by the Department of Transport (DoT) on 17 April 2026.

The country currently has only one privately owned international airport, Lanseria International, which mainly serves Johannesburg.

Through a five-year strategy, the NADP aims to increase private-sector involvement in the design, planning, construction and operation of the country’s major airports.

“This includes concession models, long-term leases with associated responsibilities for upgrading infrastructure and technical input from specialist infrastructure private financiers,” the DoT said.

“It must be noted, however, that the potential privatisation of major airports will require special attention and approval from the appropriate authorities.”

The DoT reported that South Africa has over 1,500 licensed and registered airports, with only 9 of these being operated by the majority state-owned Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA).

Despite this, 86% of all air passengers in South Africa travel through the ACSA network, with the vast majority passing through the country’s three main international airports, OR Tambo, Cape Town, and King Shaka.

The DoT expects a majority of these nine ACSA-operated airports will exceed their maximum passenger and cargo capacity within the next 40 to 60 years.

Despite numerous upgrades to many of the country’s airports in the wake of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, capacity constraints continue to be reported.

As part of the NADP, the DoT will consider applications for the construction of green-field national, international and regional airports.

“Where airports are expected to exceed their ultimate capacity in the next 40 to 60 years, provision should ideally be made to safeguard suitable land for the required additional airport,” the DoT said.

“The zoning around the area also needs to be aligned and contained in the spatial development frameworks to avoid encroachment of incompatible land-use.”

Also discussed in the NADP are planned infrastructure upgrades for the country’s existing airports, including major developments at OR Tambo and Cape Town International.

Airports plan is mostly talk, says expert

Speaking to 702, aviation expert Guy Leitch said he does not believe the NADP will translate into real private sector investment over the next five years.

While the NADP claimed capacity constraints as a major reason for the increased focus on private involvement, Leitch challenged this notion.

“I suspect that we are seeing a lot of lip service towards privatisation, with not much intent to actually go ahead,” Leitch said. “The bottom line is there are no new airports planned.”

“In fact, the reality is that as of December 2025, we were still not at pre-Covid levels. There is a lot of opportunity for growth, but we don’t need new airports at this stage.”

OR Tambo International Airport, the country’s busiest airport, has a maximum capacity of 28 million annual passengers.

According to Leitch, the airport only received around 15 million passengers in 2025, still well below its maximum capacity.

While he believes the country does not currently require the construction of new airports, Leitch said there are major infrastructure projects in the NADP that could be beneficial.

OR Tambo International is due to receive new midfield terminals for cargo, which Leitch said should be extended to low-cost airlines.

“The big beneficiary of growth would be Cape Town International Airport,” Leitch said. “Half of the entire R22 billion capex budget over the next five years will go towards a realigned runway.”

“That is well due, because Cape Town cannot handle the largest aircraft. It is also a long overdue upgrade of the domestic terminal.”

Leitch explained that the increased traffic to Cape Town and away from Johannesburg is largely due to the Cape Town Air Access (CTAA) initiative, which aims to boost air traffic to the city.

The CTAA is a public-private partnership between six government entities, including the Western Cape provincial government and ACSA, and various private sector partners.

Leitch said this, along with the country’s shift away from the struggling state-owned South African Airways towards private airlines, exacerbated the growth of Cape Town International over the past few years.