George Airport
George Airport George Lughawe | |||||||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
| Operator | Airports Company South Africa | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | George, Garden Route District Municipality, South Africa | ||||||||||||||
| Hub for | |||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 639 ft / 195 m | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 34°00′24″S 22°22′51″E / 34.00667°S 22.38083°E | ||||||||||||||
| Website | https://www.airports.co.za/airports/george-airport | ||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||
  GRJ Location in the Western Cape  GRJ GRJ (South Africa)  GRJ GRJ (Africa) | |||||||||||||||
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| Runways | |||||||||||||||
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| Statistics (FY23 / 24) | |||||||||||||||
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George Airport (IATA: GRJ, ICAO: FAGG) (Afrikaans: George Lughawe) is an airport located in George, Western Cape, South Africa. It was formerly known as P. W. Botha Airport, named after the state president who lived in this part of the country.
This airport was originally built in 1977 as an exact replica of the Keetmanshoop Airport in Namibia, but since its expansion and renovation, it now looks completely different. George Airport has won the award for Africa's best airport in the category under two million passengers per year six times; the last time was in 2017. The award is given by Airports Council International (ACI).[3]
In 2013, the airport served 560,432 passengers, substantially more than the 154,000 in 2003. From 2014 onwards, continued increase in passenger numbers were witnessed, with 2017 seeing a record number of passengers (785,486), closing in on the design capacity of the airport which should necessitate further terminal expansion in the near future.
Airlines and destinations
[edit]Passenger
[edit]| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Airlink | Cape Town, Johannesburg–O. R. Tambo |
| CemAir | Bloemfontein,[4] Cape Town,[5] Durban,[6] Johannesburg–O. R. Tambo[7] |
| FlySafair | Cape Town, Johannesburg–Lanseria (begins 14 March 2025),[8] Johannesburg–O. R. Tambo[9] |
Cargo
[edit]| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| BidAir Cargo | Johannesburg–O. R. Tambo[10] |
Traffic statistics
[edit] | Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org. |
| Year | Passengers | % Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 589,674 |  4.2%
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| 2007 | 652,031 | 10.6%
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| 2008 | 630,385 |  3.3%
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| 2009 | 548,498 | 13.0%
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| 2010 | 526,823 | 4.0%
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| 2011 | 565,291 | 7.3%
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| 2012 | 544,306 | 3.7%
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| 2013 | 572,130 | 5.1%
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| 2014 | 615,688 | 7.6%
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| 2015 | 718,881 | 16.8%
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| 2016 | 738,641 | 2.7%
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| 2017 | 801,480 | 8.5%
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| 2018 | 830,118 | 4.3%
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| 2019 | 830,118 | 0.7%
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| 2020 | 267,816 | 67.7%
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| 2021 | 609,069 | 127.4%
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| 2022 | 757,567 | 24.4%
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| 2023 | 803,184 | 6.0%
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Accidents and incidents
[edit]- 7 December 2009 – An Embraer ERJ 135 (registration:ZS-SJW) operated by Airlink on a scheduled flight (SA-8625) overran the runway in wet conditions and ended up on a public road. There were no fatalities, but the plane suffered substantial damage.[13][14] The accident was caused by an incorrect sealant used on the runway, and the airline was cleared of all blame. Airlink's insurers took legal action against the state-owned Airports Company of South Africa.[15]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "ACSA – Durban Passenger Statistics". Airports Company South Africa. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
- ^ "ACSA – George Aircraft Statistics". Airports Company South Africa. Retrieved 8 December 2024.
- ^ "George Airport wins award". George Herald. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
- ^ https://www.facebook.com/flycemair/photos/a.1416817981867233/2776145309267820/ [user-generated source]
- ^ "Closure of Plettenberg Bay Airport to commercial flights sparks outcry".
- ^ "Cemair 2Q23 Network Additions". AeroRoutes. 29 March 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
- ^ "CemAir / Scheduled flights in South Africa".
- ^ "Safair Adds Lanseria – George From March 2025". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
- ^ "FlySafair Flight Schedule".
- ^ bidaircargo.com – Network Archived 1 November 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 13 January 2021
- ^ "ACSA Passenger Statistics". Airports Company South Africa. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
- ^ https://www.airports.co.za/StatisticsLib/GRJ%20PASSENGER.pdf
- ^ Hradecky, Simon (7 December 2009). "Accident: SA Airlink E135 at George on Dec 7th 2009, overran runway". The Aviation Herald. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
- ^ "Airlink plane overshoots George runway". Mail & Guardian. 7 December 2009. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
- ^ Business Day – Airlink in clear, Acsa blamed for George near-disaster
External links
[edit]
Media related to George Airport at Wikimedia Commons
