Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Pierre van Ryneveld Airport, now known as Upington International Airport, lies in the Northern Cape near the town of Upington and is best known among pilots for its extraordinarily long main runway, one of the longest in the world, built to allow a fully loaded Boeing 747 to depart non-stop for Europe. Opened in 1968, it has served as a strategic refuelling base, a test site for Concorde, and today handles domestic airline services alongside cargo and car-testing charter traffic. For a simulator pilot it offers the novelty of operating from a vast desert airfield with runway dimensions rarely encountered elsewhere.
Pierre van Ryneveld Airport, operating today under the name Upington International Airport, serves the town of Upington in South Africa's Northern Cape province. It is owned and operated by Airports Company South Africa and holds public-use status, with international clearance for cargo operations. The field is chiefly notable for its immense 17/35 runway, one of the longest in the world, a legacy of its original purpose as a strategic refuelling stop for South African Airways Boeing 747s during the 1970s and 1980s. That history, combined with its remote desert setting and use for Concorde test flights, makes it an unusual and rewarding destination for a simulator pilot.
The airport sits at an elevation of 2,749 feet, at coordinates 28.401 degrees south, 21.2597 degrees east, on the outskirts of Upington in the Northern Cape. It is a controlled aerodrome with its own tower frequency, and lies within South African domestic airspace serving the Dawid Kruiper Local Municipality.
The airfield has three physical runways. The main runway, 17/35, is a hard-surfaced, lit strip of 16,048 feet, among the longest runways anywhere and built to accommodate fully loaded Boeing 747 departures. A secondary hard-surfaced, lit runway, 01/19, measures 7,962 feet. A third hard-surfaced, lit runway, 08/26, is considerably shorter, with the 08 threshold giving 3,763 feet and the 26 threshold 4,929 feet.
The tower operates on 121.3 MHz, which also serves as the approach frequency, while apron and miscellaneous ground coordination is conducted on 122.65 MHz. There is no ILS, but a VOR and an RNAV instrument approach procedure are available for runway 35. Runways 01/19 and 17/35 are equipped with runway centreline, edge and end lighting together with PAPI, while runway 08/26 is lit but restricted to taxi use only at night and during instrument meteorological conditions.
Runway 08/26, despite being lit, is designated for taxiing purposes only at night and in IMC, so arriving and departing traffic should expect to use 17/35 or 01/19 under those conditions. PAPI guidance is provided on both of the main runways to assist visual approaches.
The airport opened in 1968 under the name Pierre van Ryneveld Airport. Its exceptionally long main runway was constructed specifically to allow a fully laden Boeing 747 to take off for Europe without an intermediate stop, a requirement driven by the elevation of the site, the extreme summer heat, and the loss of South African Airways' landing rights in Angola following the fall of the Portuguese regime there, along with concerns over continued access to airports in Ivory Coast and Cape Verde. Upington was selected for its strategic position, available land and lower elevation relative to Johannesburg. From August 1976 to December 1982, South African Airways used the airport as a refuelling station for two weekly scheduled Boeing 747 services to London and Zurich. In June 1976, Concorde carried out flight testing at the airport. A corrugated iron fire station erected in 1974 was later converted into administrative offices in 1996 once the fire station itself was relocated.
The airport now operates as Upington International Airport, with Airlink providing scheduled domestic services to Cape Town and Johannesburg-O.R. Tambo. It functions as an international cargo hub, particularly for the export of grapes from the surrounding region during the November to January harvest season, and hosts cargo flights to Leipzig. The airport is also used by major car manufacturers, who charter aircraft to bring vehicles and test teams to Upington to take advantage of its hot, dry, sunny conditions during the European winter, with testing conducted on the nearby N14 road. Refuelling is provided by Engen Aviation, supplying both Avgas and Jet-A1, and the field maintains Category 5 fire and rescue cover, upgradeable to Category 8 with prior notice. An Upington Weather Office is based at the airport, and a small solar farm within the airport precinct contributes to its power supply.
