Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) has officially opened a major new international departures lounge at OR Tambo International Airport, the centrepiece of a R1.2 billion terminal upgrade programme that represents the most significant investment in the facility's passenger-facing infrastructure in more than fifteen years.
The new lounge — located in the expanded A-Zone international terminal — offers significantly more seating capacity, an improved range of food and beverage concessions, enhanced duty-free retail space, and substantially better connectivity through an upgraded Wi-Fi network and additional charging infrastructure. The facility has been designed to accommodate the sustained growth in international passenger volumes that OR Tambo has experienced since the post-Covid travel recovery began in earnest.
ACSA Group CEO Mpumi Mpofu described the investment as a statement of confidence in South Africa's position as a major African aviation hub. She noted that OR Tambo currently handles more than 22 million passengers annually and that without continued capital investment, the airport risked falling behind regional competitors in terms of the quality of experience it offers travellers.
The upgrade also addresses longstanding passenger complaints about queuing times in the immigration and customs hall, with new automated e-gate systems installed for South African passport holders and expanded manual processing booths for international arrivals. The border control upgrades are expected to reduce average immigration processing times from 28 minutes to under 12 minutes per passenger under normal operating conditions.
Further phases of the OR Tambo upgrade programme — including an expanded domestic departures terminal and a new multi-storey parking facility — are expected to be completed by 2028, with ACSA confirming that it has secured financing for the full project scope.
