The Cape Winelands Airport is progressing rapidly, and is expected to launch quite soon. The airport, according to its website, was once called the Fisantekraal Airfield under the South African Air Force. It was reportedly the ‘preferred base for aviation training in the Cape Town region’.
It was then acquired by local billionaire, Rob Hersov in 2021. Back then, IOL reported that the airport serve in a similar capacity to Johannesburg’s Lanseria airport.
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Cape Winelands Airport Opening Soon
Cape Winelands Airport director, Mark Wilkinson reportedly said the development plans are moving at an ‘exciting rate’.
“Which include an expansion of one of the existing runways and other aeronautical facilities and infrastructure, providing much needed aviation capacity and redundancy into the region, also reducing the overall cost of flying for the public,” he said according to IOL.
Wilkinson further explains that the airport will – at first – operate as a general aviation airfield, offering chartered flights and training.
Western Cape Mobility MEC, Rocardo Mackenzie, shared to Twitter (now X) that the airport has “plans for inland port, shops, hotel”. He added that the billion rand project would create more jobs in the Cape Winelands district.
Today we received a update and a fly-over on The Cape Winelands Airport which includes plans for a inland port, shops, hotel.
This billion rand development integrating with rail in (inland port) will create more jobs in the Cape Winelands & aim to remove goods from the road. pic.twitter.com/jrQwhBJnt7
— Ricardo Mackenzie MPL🇿🇦 (@ricardomackenzi) July 26, 2023
Making travelling in the province, a breeze
DA Spokesperson for Tourism, Manuel de Freitas, reportedly said the airport will accommodate private and scheduled flights at a later stage.
“The airfield has four concrete runways, which date from around 1943, built for the use of the air force during the Second World War. A group of investors purchased the airport in the 1990s, they want to eventually establish the Cape Winelands Airport as a full-service hub that caters for both scheduled passenger flights as well as general aviation activities, including non-scheduled flights by private plane owners,” he said.
The greatest thing about the new airport, according to de Freitas, is its proximity to the Cape Winelands and Franschhoek.
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Of the four original runways, two remain operational. The other two are Hollywood favourites for movies and film productions. Many world-renowned shows have been filmed at the Cape Winelands Airport including:
- The Crown (Netflix)
- Kissing Booth 2 (Netflix)
- Fear Factor (Endemol Productions)
- Homelands (Showtime Productions)
- Getaway Car (BBC)
The Cape Winelands Airport is 15km outside of Durbanville.
