Cape Town International Airport (IATA: CPT, ICAO: FACT) is the primary international airport serving the city of Cape Town, and is the second-busiest airport in South Africa and fifth-busiest in Africa. Located approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the city center, the airport was opened in 1954 to replace Cape Town's previous airport, Wingfield Aerodrome. Cape Town International Airport is the only airport in the Cape Town metropolitan area that offers scheduled passenger services. The airport has domestic and international terminals, linked by a common central terminal.

The airport has direct flights from South Africa's other two main urban areas, Johannesburg and Durban, as well as flights to smaller centers in South Africa. Internationally, it has direct flights to several destinations in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, South America and the United States. The air route between Cape Town and Johannesburg was the world's ninth-busiest air route in 2011 with an estimated 4.5 million passengers.

D. F. Malan Airport was opened in 1954, a year after Jan Smuts Airport (now O. R. Tambo International Airport) on the Witwatersrand, near Johannesburg, opened. The airport replaced Cape Town's previous airport, Wingfield Aerodrome. Originally named after the then South African prime minister, it initially offered two international flights: a direct flight to Britain and a second flight to Britain via Johannesburg.

With the fall of apartheid in the early 1990s, ownership of the airport was transferred from the state to the newly formed Airports Company South Africa, and the airport was renamed to the politically neutral Cape Town International Airport. South African Airways launched a route to Miami in December 1992. In January 2000, the carrier replaced it with a flight to Atlanta, whose outbound leg from Cape Town included a stop in Fort Lauderdale.

The first years of the twenty-first century saw tremendous growth at the airport; from handling 6.2 million passengers per annum in 2004–05, the airport peaked at 8.4 million passengers per annum in 2007–08 before falling back to 7.8 million in 2008–09. In June 2008, Delta Air Lines started a flight to New York via Dakar. It used a Boeing 767 on the route. Delta began flying to Atlanta instead the following June. The company terminated the route in September 2009. In December 2011, Malaysia Airlines discontinued its service to Buenos Aires.

In 2016, the airport saw a 29% increase in international arrivals; 2016 also saw the airport handle 10 million passengers per annum. United Airlines commenced seasonal flights to Newark on a Boeing 787 in December 2019. The route became year-round in 2022. In October 2023, South African Airways inaugurated a link to São Paulo.

On 16 April 2018, it was reported in the Cape Times that the Minister of Transport, Bonginkosi Nzimande, had directed ACSA on 22 March 2018 to change the name of Cape Town International Airport to Nelson Mandela International Airport. The name change was discussed and as yet no name change had been published in the Government Gazette.

On 5 March 2019, the EFF filed a motion in Parliament calling for Cape Town International Airport to be renamed for anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Some Khoi activists, meanwhile, argued for the airport to be named after the !Uriǁ'aeǀona translator Krotoa. However, South Africa's Parliament was not constitutionally empowered to enact name changes: the South African Geographical Names Council (SAGNC) held that responsibility. The motion was unsuccessful.

In February 2021, the Cape Times reported that the proposed name change of the airport had been "quietly ditched".

In preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Cape Town International Airport was extensively expanded and renovated. The main focus was the development of a Central Terminal Building at a cost of R1.6 billion, which linked the formerly separate domestic and international terminals and provided a common check-in area. The departures level of the Central Terminal opened in November 2009, with the entire building opened in April 2010.

Apart from the now-completed 2010 expansion project, it had been proposed that a second runway for large aircraft be constructed at the airport, to be completed by 2015. However, this second runway has not been constructed. In May 2015, Airports Company South Africa announced a R7.7 billion expansion for the airport. The expansion includes the upgrades of the Domestic & International terminals. The expansion has been postponed indefinitely due to the drop in passenger numbers due to the global COVID-19 pandemic from 2020.

The airport has two terminals linked together by one central terminal.

The terminal building has a split-level design, with departures located on the upper floors and arrivals in the lower floors; an elevated roadway system provides vehicular access to both departures and arrivals levels. All check-in takes place within the Central Terminal Building, which contains 120 check-in desks and 20 self-service kiosks. Passengers then pass through a consolidated security screening area before dividing. Passengers flying internationally head to the northern part of the airport which is the international terminal, and passengers flying to other parts of South Africa head to the southern part of the airport to the domestic terminal.

The terminal has 10 air bridges, evenly split between domestic and international usage. Sections of lower levels of the domestic and international terminals are used for transporting passengers via bus to and from remotely parked aircraft.

Arriving passengers collect luggage in the old sections of their respective terminals, before proceeding through new passageways to the new Central Terminal Building. The terminal contains an automated baggage handling system, capable of handling 30,000 bags per hour.

Retail outlets are located on the lower (arrivals) level of the terminal at landside, as well as airside at the departure gates. Retail outlets are diverse, including foreign exchange services, bookstores, clothing retailers, grocery stores, souvenir outlets and duty-free in international departures. Restaurants within the terminal building are located on the upper (3rd) level above the departures level, which includes what is purported to be the largest Spur restaurant on the African continent, at 1,080 m (11,600 sq ft). The restaurant level overlooks the airside of the terminal, where a glass curtain wall separates the patrons from the planes three stories below. On the 4th floor is where the airport's lounges are situated. The Bidvest, as well as South African Airways lounges, can be found here.

The international terminal is located on the northern side of the airport. Customs and Immigration facilities, lounges, duty-free shops, restaurants, prayer rooms, conference rooms, airline offices, and chapels are located in the terminal.

Located on the southern side of the airport, it has the same facilities as the international terminal, with the exception of Immigration facilities.

There are two hotels located within the airport precinct: Hotel Verde, a four-star hotel owned by Bon Hotels and ranked as "Africa's greenest hotel", and the other being Road Lodge, a budget hotel owned by the City Lodge hotel chain group. An ExecuJet facility is located near the southern end of the main runway and caters for business jets.

Airlines	Destinations
Air Botswana	Gaborone, Kasane, Maun
Air France	Seasonal: Paris–Charles de Gaulle
Air Mauritius	Mauritius
Airlink	Bloemfontein, Gaborone (begins 1 April 2025), George, Harare, Hoedspruit, Johannesburg–O. R. Tambo, Kimberley, Maputo, Maun, Mbombela, Port Elizabeth, Skukuza, Upington, Victoria Falls, Walvis Bay, Windhoek–Hosea Kutako Seasonal: Saint Helena (resumes 7 December 2024)
British Airways	London–Heathrow Seasonal: London–Gatwick
CemAir	Durban, East London, Hoedspruit, Johannesburg–O. R. Tambo, Kimberley, Plettenberg Bay
Condor	Seasonal: Frankfurt
Delta Air Lines	Atlanta
Edelweiss Air	Seasonal: Zürich
Emirates	Dubai–International
Eswatini Air	Manzini
Ethiopian Airlines	Addis Ababa
FlyNamibia	Walvis Bay, Windhoek–Hosea Kutako
FlySafair	Bloemfontein, Durban, East London, George, Johannesburg–Lanseria, Johannesburg–O. R. Tambo, Mbombela, Port Elizabeth, Windhoek–Hosea Kutako
Kenya Airways	Livingstone, Nairobi–Jomo Kenyatta, Victoria Falls
KLM	Amsterdam
LAM Mozambique Airlines	Maputo
LIFT	Durban, Johannesburg–O. R. Tambo
Lufthansa	Frankfurt Seasonal: Munich
Norse Atlantic Airways	Seasonal: London–Gatwick
Proflight Zambia	Lusaka
Qatar Airways	Doha
RwandAir	Harare, Kigali
Singapore Airlines	Singapore
South African Airways	Johannesburg–O. R. Tambo, São Paulo–Guarulhos
TAAG Angola Airlines	Luanda
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul
United Airlines	Newark, Washington–Dulles
Virgin Atlantic	Seasonal: London–Heathrow

Notes

• ^a Kenya Airways flights to Nairobi operate via Victoria Falls and Livingstone.
• ^b Flights to and from Kigali have a stopover in Harare. The airline has full traffic rights to transport passengers between Harare and Cape Town.
• ^c This flight operates via Johannesburg. However, this carrier does not have rights to transport passengers solely between Cape Town and Johannesburg.
• ^d Some Delta Air Lines flights from Atlanta to Cape Town operate via Johannesburg. However, all flights from Cape Town to Atlanta are nonstop.

Airlines	Destinations
BidAir Cargo	Johannesburg–Lanseria, Johannesburg–O. R. Tambo, Port Elizabeth

Annual passenger traffic for Cape Town International Airport

Fiscal year	International		Regional		Domestic		Unscheduled		Total
	Passenger movements	% Change	Passenger movements	% Change	Passenger movements	% Change	Passenger movements	% Change	Passenger movements	% Change
2004–05	1,176,958	no data	126,837	no data	4,895,048	no data	16,060	no data	6,214,903	no data
2005–06	1,167,661	0.8%	149,489	17.9%	5,503,690	12.4%	13,333	17.0%	6,834,173	10.0%
2006–07	1,246,016	6.7%	147,885	1.1%	6,107,405	11.0%	17,237	29.3%	7,518,543	10.0%
2007–08	1,309,822	5.1%	145,858	1.4%	6,950,061	13.8%	20,877	21.1%	8,426,618	12.1%
2008–09	1,378,160	5.2%	138,000	5.4%	6,283,132	9.6%	13,878	33.5%	7,813,170	7.3%
2009–10	1,284,990	6.8%	122,584	11.2%	6,391,079	1.7%	11,416	17.7%	7,810,069	0.0%
2010–11	1,261,024	1.9%	122,609	0.0%	6,781,143	6.1%	35,771	213%	8,200,547	5.0%
2011–12	1,400,487	11.1%	133,280	8.7%	7,028,669	3.7%	13,902	157%	8,576,338	4.6%
2012–13	1,325,481	5.4%	144,148	8.2%	6,951,577	1.1%	13,593	2.2%	8,434,799	1.7%
2013–14	1,355,524	2.3%	143,356	0.7%	6,879,919	1.0%	14,190	4.4%	8,392,989	0.5%
2014–15	1,452,360	7.1%	150,602	5.1%	7,142,907	3.9%	10,003	41.9%	8,755,872	4.3%
2015–16	1,564,464	7.7%	179,775	19.4%	7,902,362	10.6%	12,988	29.8%	9,659,589	10.3%
2016–17	1,934,641	23.7%	197,437	9.8%	8,067,516	2.1%	11,796	9.2%	10,211,390	5.7%
2017–18	2,243,367	16%	208,903	5.8%	8,286,618	2.7%	13,358	13.2%	10,752,246	5.3%
2018–19	2,406,594	7.3%	195,617	6.4%	8,209,610	0.1%	11,916	10.8%	10,823,737	0.1%
2019–20	2,356,225	2.1%	183,999	5.9%	8,137,246	0.9%	11,328	4.9%	10,688,798	1.2%
2020–21	156,433	93.4%	15,484	91.6%	2,181,670	73.2%	32,534	187.2%	2,386,121	77.7%
2021-22	751,278	131%	80,384	135%	4,853,699	76%	15,450	53%	5,700,811	82%
2022-23	2,174,073	189%	149,299	86%	6,062,223	25%	22,156	43%	8,407,751	47%
2023-24	2 754 405	23.6%	169 961	12.9%	7 093 292	15.7%	16 694	12.1%	10 034 352	17.6%

Annual aircraft movements for Cape Town International Airport

Fiscal year	International		Regional		Domestic		Unscheduled		Total
	Aircraft movements	% Change	Aircraft movements	% Change	Aircraft movements	% Change	Aircraft movements	% Change	Aircraft movements	% Change
2004–05	4,355	no data	4,242	no data	56,810	no data	27,154	no data	92,561	no data
2005–06	4,296	1.4%	4,169	1.7%	58,099	2.3%	22,326	17.8%	88,890	4.0%
2006–07	4,623	7.6%	3,698	11.3%	60,470	4.1%	22,602	1.2%	91,393	2.8%
2007–08	5,019	8.6%	3,420	7.5%	69,819	15.5%	24,027	6.3%	102,285	11.9%
2008–09	5,638	12.3%	3,340	2.3%	65,623	6.0%	21,042	12.4%	95,643	6.5%
2009–10	4,884	13.4%	3,296	1.3%	65,020	0.9%	19,379	7.9%	92,579	3.2%
2010–11	4,868	0.3%	3,137	4.8%	66,587	2.4%	19,031	1.8%	93,623	1.1%
2012–13	4,906	0.8%	3,557	4.8%	62,065	6.7%	18,545	1.8%	89,073	4.9%
2013–14	4,961	1.1%	2,855	4.8%	60,665	2.3%	20,092	1.8%	88,573	0.6%
2014–15	5,091	2.6%	3,135	4.8%	64,269	5.9%	18,651	1.8%	91,146	2.9%
2015–16	5,568	9.4%	4,783	4.8%	70,731	10%	19,139	1.8%	100,221	10%
2016–17	7,121	27.9%	5,048	4.8%	71,081	0.5%	16,087	1.8%	99,337	0.9%
2017–18	9,206	29.3%	5,048	4.8%	72,110	1.4%	16,252	1.8%	103,001	3.7%
2018–19	10,490	13.9%	4,950	1.9%	67,328	6.6%	15,898	2.2%	98,666	4.2%
2019–20	10,154	3.2%	4,206	15.0%	65,372	2.9%	10,447	34.3%	90,179	8.6%
2020–21	1,369	86.5%	644	84.7%	20,287	69.0%	16,618	59.1%	38,918	56.8%
2021–22	5,202	280.0%	2,607	304.8%	45,149	122.6%	14,738	11.3%	67,696	73.9%
2022–23	10,913	109.8%	3,704	42.1%	52,087	15.4%	23,576	60.0%	90,280	33.4%
2023–24	14,184	30.0%	3,993	7.8%	61,482	18.0%	19,479	17.4%	99,138	9.8%

Cape Town International Airport is approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the city centre and is accessible from the N2 freeway, with Airport Approach Road providing a direct link between the N2 (at exit 16) and the airport. The airport can also be indirectly accessed from the R300 freeway via the M12, M10 and M22.

The airport provides approximately 1,424 parking spaces in the general parking area, and 1,748 parking bays in the multi-storey car park located near the domestic terminal. A new car park opened in 2010, which is located near the international terminal and provides an additional 4,000 parking spaces. The airport also offers a valet parking service.

Transport to and from the airport is provided by metered taxis, e-hailing services (such as Uber and Bolt) and various private shuttle companies.

There is no direct rail access to Cape Town International Airport. The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa has proposed a 4 km (2.5 mi) rail link between the airport and Cape Town's existing suburban rail network.

• List of South African airports by passenger movements

Media related to Cape Town International Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website