Johannesburg's principal airport opened in 1952 as Jan Smuts Airport, replacing the temporary Palmietfontein field as South Africa's international gateway. Sitting nearly 1,700 meters above sea level on the Highveld, it posed hot-and-high performance challenges that shaped aircraft operations from the start. During the apartheid era, when many African nations denied South African Airways overflight rights, flights to Europe had to detour around the continent's western bulge, spurring the airline's adoption of ultra-long-range aircraft such as the Boeing 747SP.
After the transition to democracy the airport was pointedly renamed Johannesburg International in 1994, stripping the apartheid-era statesman's name. In 2006 it was renamed again for Oliver Reginald Tambo, the revered ANC leader. Major upgrades ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup brought a new central terminal core and the Gautrain rapid rail link to Sandton and Pretoria.
Today O. R. Tambo International is the busiest airport in Africa, the primary hub for South African Airways, Airlink and other carriers. The continent's key long-haul connecting point between Europe, Asia, the Americas and the cities and safari destinations of southern Africa.