Mahikeng Airport or Mmabatho Airport is an

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

serving

Mahikeng Mafikeng, officially known as Mahikeng and previously Mafeking (, ), is the capital city of the North West province of South Africa. Close to South Africa's border with Botswana, Mafikeng is northeast of Cape Town and west of Johannesburg. In ...

and

Mmabatho Mmabatho (Tswana for "Mother of the People") is the former capital of the North-West Province of South Africa. During the apartheid era, it was the capital of the former "Bantustan" of Bophuthatswana. Following the end of apartheid in 1994, Bophu ...

, the current and former

capital cities A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, Department (country subdivision), department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city ...

of the

North West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

in South Africa. The airport is widely known as Mafikeng Airport after Mahikeng's former name. The airport is managed by the North West Province Department of Transport and Roads. The airport is a former

air force base An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base) is an aerodrome used as a military base by a military force for the operation ...

of the

Boputhatswana Bophuthatswana (, meaning "gathering of the Tswana people"), officially the Republic of Bophuthatswana ( tn, Riphaboliki ya Bophuthatswana; af, Republiek van Bophuthatswana), was a Bantustan (also known as "Homeland"; an area set aside for mem ...

Defence Force and was previously classified as an

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...

. As of 2014, discussions and construction was in progress in order for the airport to regain its status as an international airport.

History

The airport is home to a flying club called the Mafikeng Flying Club. The club was formed in 1971. The air base was taken over and used as a base by members of the

Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging The Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (), meaning "Afrikaner Resistance Movement", commonly known by its abbreviation AWB, is an Afrikaner nationalist paramilitary organisation in South Africa. Since its founding in 1973 by Eugène Terre'Blanche and ...

during the

Bophuthatswana coup d'état of 1994 The 1994 Bophuthatswana crisis was a major political crisis which began after Lucas Mangope, the president of Bophuthatswana, a South African bantustan created under ''apartheid'', attempted to crush widespread labour unrest and popular demonstr ...

. The airport's international license was suspended by the

South African Civil Aviation Authority The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA or CAA) is the civil aviation authority of South Africa, overseeing civil aviation and governing investigations of aviation accidents and incidents. It is headquartered in the Ikhaya Lokundiza Buil ...

on 16 April 2001 with immediate effect due to issues with security, fire and airport management. The airport is used by private aircraft operators as passenger flights stopped in 2009 due to the airport failing to comply with various regulations. Scheduled commercial flights by

South African Express South African Express Airways SOC Ltd, known as South African Express or simply SA Express, was a state-owned airline based in South Africa that started operations on 24 April 1994. Although the airline was operationally independent of South ...

resumed in 2015 and were suspended in June 2018.

Facilities

The airport resides at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...

. It has one

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

designated 04/22 with an

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

surface measuring as well as asphalt taxiways. As of 2014, the airport is undergoing an expansion that includes re-marking runways and taxiways as well as installing a new

instrument landing system In aviation, the instrument landing system (ILS) is a precision radio navigation system that provides short-range guidance to aircraft to allow them to approach a runway at night or in bad weather. In its original form, it allows an aircraft to ...

that should allow Mahikeng airport to regain its international status. The cost of the expansion project was R15 million with a further R30 million being spent in order to ensure the project is completed within 2014. The expansion is intended to make Mahikeng airport a major cargo hub in the North West province that can be used to export various agricultural products produced within the province. Mahikeng airport has all the necessary facilities for customs control. The airport does not have international certification, however these facilities can be made operational again if needed.

Airlines and destinations

Since

terminated their flights to Johannesburg–O. R. Tambo, the airport no longer supports scheduled routes.

References

External links

* * * {{authority control Airports in South Africa Transport in North West (South African province) Buildings and structures in North West (South African province) Mahikeng

History

Facilities

Airlines and destinations

See also

References

External links