Airports in South Africa to Use for World Cup 2010

There are travel enthusiasts, and there are sports fans. Both can be evangelical about their passion, so you can probably imagine what happens when you combine the two. All it takes is a major sporting event to bring out the best (or worst, depending on your point of view) of these crowds – but the good news is that you don’t have to be both. A huge soccer fan or a travel junkie can appreciate the idea of going to South Africa for the World Cup in 2010, and the trip might make each group appreciate the other group as well!

One stumbling block on the road to South Africa, however, is that airfare to any of the World Cup cities isn’t cheap – and the prices are only going up between now and the tournament. Along with these other suggestions for how to find cheap airfare to South Africa for the World Cup, I wanted to talk about the idea of flying into alternate airports in a bit more detail – since there are nine host cities, there are more options to cover.

Often times when you’re flying into a major city, it’s a good idea to look at airports other than the main airport for that city in case one of the smaller area airports has cheaper flights. This isn’t always the case, but it’s almost always worth looking.

In South Africa, there are nine cities where World Cup games will be held, but not all of them present mutliple-airport options. In this article I’ll talk about the airports in some of the World Cup cities – which will be handy whether you’re looking for alternate airports to fly into or if you’re flying between cities in South Africa to attend games in multiple cities.

How to Fly to Johannesburg

Johannesburg is South Africa’s biggest city, so it’s not surprising that it has two airports to choose from. The primary airport (and the busiest in South Africa) is O.R. Tambo International Airport (airport code JNB), and it’s a hub for South African Airways. A couple of the country’s smaller domestic airlines serving O.R. Tambo are South African Express and South African Airlink, and other budget airlines flying to JNB include 1time, Mango, and kulula.

The other airport serving Johannesburg is Lanseria Airport (airport code HLA). There’s far less traffic in and out of Lanseria than O.R. Tambo, but if you’re flying from elsewhere in Africa (especially elsewhere in South Africa) it could be a good option. Airlines serving Lanseria include kulula, LAM Mozambique Airlines, and Norse Air.

How to Fly to Cape Town

Cape Town has South Africa’s second-busiest airport, Cape Town International Airport (airport code CPT), which is a hub for South African Airways. Other domestic airlines serving Cape Town include South African Express, South African Airlink, and Comair – and other budget airlines to look at to reach Cape Town are Air Berlin, TUIfly, kulula, 1time, and Mango.

How to Fly to Durban

Durban’s international airport, cleverly called Durban International Airport (airport code DUR), is the 3rd busiest behind Jo’burg and Cape Town but gets far less traffic than either of those two. Some of the airlines serving Durban are South African Express, South African Airlink, Comair, kulula, 1time, Mango, British Airways, and Emirates.

How to Fly to Nelspruit

Nelspruit’s Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (airport code NLP) probably isn’t going to be your entry point to South Africa (unless you’re already in Africa, perhaps), but it’s good to know about if you’re flying about the country to attend various games. Airlines serving Nelspruit are Airlink Airlines, Interlink Airlines, and Federal Air.

How to Fly to Port Elizabeth

The coastal city of Port Elizabeth has its own (small) airport – Port Elizabeth Airport (airport code PLZ). Airlines serving Port Elizabeth are 1time, Airlink Airlines, kulula, South African Airways, South African Express, and Comair.

How to Fly to Bloemfontein

The city of Bloemfontein in the center of the country has a small airport, Bloemfontein Airport (airport code BFN), with a grand total of three airlines serving it – South African Express, South African Airlink, and Mango.

How to Fly to Polokwane

The airport in Polokwane (now called Pietersburg), like the city, now is known by two names. You may hear Polokwane International Airport or Pietersburg International Airport, but they’re the same airport with the same airport code of PTG. To make it even more confusing, the airport is also sometimes called Gateway Airport. There’s only one airline serving the city – South African Airlink.

How to Fly to Rustenburg

The airport nearest to the city of Rustenburg is in Pilanesburg – Pilanesburg International Airport (airport code NTY), which is near the infamous Sun City. Airlines flying into Pilanesburg include Jet Air, Ross Air, Air 2000, SA Historic Flights, Progress Air, and Planes R Us.

How to Fly to Pretoria

The closest international airport to Pretoria (today called Tshwane) is in Johannesburg, so see above for information on flying into Johannesburg.

photo by ThisParticularGreg