The South African town with the airport named the best in Africa

Cape Town is home to the top-rated airport in Africa, and has been for quite some time.

While not the busiest airport in the country, Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) has consistently been recognised as the continent’s best airport by the Skytrax World Airport Awards, taking home the title 11 years in a row.

At this year’s Skytrax awards, CTIA also received recognition for having the best staff among airports in Africa, and being the cleanest airport on the continent.

The World Airports Awards have been running since 1999 and have become a prestigious event for the global aviation industry, using a voting system where travellers rank their experience in an annual global airport customer satisfaction survey.

The survey covers more than 575 airports across more than 100 nationalities worldwide, allowing individuals to vote on the best customer service and facilities they experienced during their travels.

It examines every step of the air travel experience, from arriving at the airport to check-in, arrivals, transfers, shopping, security and immigration, and departures.

Cape Town emerged as the African continent’s top-rated travel hub, though O.R. Tambo International in Johannesburg and King Shaka International in Durban are also highly regarded.

O.R. Tambo was named the second best airport in Africa while its hotel, the InterContinental O.R. Tambo Airport Hotel, was given a five-star rating.

King Shaka is considered the fourth-best airport on the continent, though it is also considered to be the second-best regional airport.

The Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport in Gqeberha was listed as the fourth-best regional airport, while the Bram Fischer International Airport in Bloemfontein and the King Phalo Airport in KuGompo City (formerly East London) were ranked fifth and sixth, respectively.

Cape Town is more popular than ever

Cape Town International set a new record for domestic and international air travel in 2025 with 11 million passengers, indicating strong growth for the region’s tourism and business sectors.

December 2025 also proved to be a record-breaking month, with 364,000 two-way foreign travelers making their way through the terminal over the summer holiday period, equivalent to a 10% year-on-year increase in international tourists.

Cape Town has become so popular, in fact, that CTIA is struggling to keep up with demand, though this issue will soon be alleviated by the addition of a second international airport in the region.

The Cape Winelands Airport is a new privately owned project currently in development in Durbanville on the site of the old  Fisantekraal Airfield, which was established in 1993.

The project is being designed by Boogertman + Partners Architects and will establish a new airport precinct that will accommodate both domestic and widebody international aircraft.

The stated goal of the Cape Winelands Airport is to create an alternative to Cape Town International that offers direct access to the province’s famous viticulture regions.

Construction is scheduled to begin this year, and the first phase is expected to be completed by 2028. The project itself represents an R8 billion investment from the private developers, as the airport is not affiliated with the Airports Company South Africa.

Upon its completion, the new site will feature a 3,500m runway, an international terminal with state-of-the-art check-in stations, lounges, baggage handling, cargo, and jet fuel storage facilities.