DEPARTURE WAYFINDER: Your journey to O. R. Tambo International Airport
The way you get to and into the airport has changed a lot since March. These are the key steps.
Fill in the compulsory health questionnaire for Port Health before you leave for the airport. This will save you time and one less queue. There are two different questionnaires. One is for domestic travel. Download it here. A different questionnaire must be used if you are travelling outside of South Africa. Download it here.
You can get to the airport by car, taxi, e-hailing service or public transport.
If you are going to leave your own car at the airport, take special care to park in the cheapest possible parkade.
Your park-and-fly options are the long-term parkade or levels 3 and 4 of Parkade 2 South.
You can book cheaper long-term parking on the ACSA web site, here. Long-term parking averages out at R65 a day, but only after four days.
Level 2 of Parkade 2 South is a premium zone connected to a bridge into the terminal. Tariffs on Level 2 are higher, much higher, than in other parking areas. Level 2 is not intended for longer term or overnight parking.
If you are being dropped off at the airport, this can be done from the upper roadway which is now open. Not all of the automatic doors from the roadway are open. Please look for the airport banners which indicate entrances that are open.
Pick-ups cannot be done from the upper roadway. Single-driver vehicles will be turned away from the upper roadway.
Dropping off passengers on the upper roadway
Exiting the airport from Parkade 2
GETTING TO THE AIRPORT for drivers
If you are dropping off a passenger, the normal journey into the airport precinct and onto the upper roadway applies.
If you are parking your vehicle and have booked long-term parking, proceed to PARKADE NAME / LABEL
If you are picking up someone or leaving you airport for a day or two, follow the signs to Parkade 2 South.
Level 2 of this parkade is a premium zone where tariffs are higher.
The first 30 minutes on any level of this parkade is free. If you are within the 30 minutes you do not need to get out of your vehicle and go to the ticket payment point. Scanners at exit booms have been programmed to open for vehicles that are within the 30 minutes' grace period.
Directions from International arrivals
Directions from Domestic arrivals
DEPARTURE WAYFINDER: What happens inside the airport
Masks are compulsory and sanitisation stations are positioned at entrances and around the terminal building.
Go to your airline's check-in counter. Decals in the queuing maze show the required physical distance.
After check-in, go to the Port Health screening area which is in front of the security checkpoint.
If you have not filled in the health questionnaire at home, there are hard copies of the questionnaire to one side of the Port Health screening area. There are no pens at this area. We do not want many different people handling the same pen. Please make sure you have a pen.
After Port Health screening, go to the security checkpoint's queuing maze.
You will need to scan your own boarding pass, whether on paper or on a mobile device.
Please remove all items that could trigger the scanner so that they can be placed in a scanner tray.
If you trigger the scanner when walking through, security will not conduct the usual pat downs. You will have to go back and forth through the scanner until there are no further items on your person that trigger the scanner.
On the airside, some but not all coffee shops and retail stores are open.
There are decals on the floor at each departure gate for physical distancing. If the queue at the departure gate extends beyond the queuing maze, please be responsible and keep the correct distance from the person in front of you.
Please bear in mind that you will have to keep your mask on for the full duration of your flight and through the destination airport.
ARRIVAL WAYFINDER: Your journey through O. R. Tambo International Airport
You can be picked up from the airport or use taxis, e-hailing services or public transport including the Gautrain. You can also hire a car at the airport.
Plan your journey from the airport before you leave home.
Once you arrive, bear in mind that physical distancing rules also apply at the baggage carousels.
Once you have your bags, you need to get to your pick-up point.
From the domestic arrivals baggage carousels, exit the area and turn right. Continue until you have almost reached the international arrivals area.
Take a lift or escalator up one level. There is a bridge to Parkade 2 South on the eastern side. The bridge is over the lower roadway.
You will emerge on level 2 of Parkade 2 South.
You can be picked up on any one of levels 2, 3 or 4 of this parkade. There are four parkade entry points on each level. Level 4 is the least busy and offers the quickest exit.
Car hire services are on Level 1 of Parkade 2 South.
If you arrive on an international flight, the route is slightly different. As you emerge into the international arrivals hall, walk straight ahead to the short escalators that will take you below the roadway.
It is a short walk across to the basement to the escalators that take you up and into Parkade 2 South. Proceed up to the level where you have arranged your pick-up.
Should you wish to use the Gautrain, there is existing signage directing you to the station ticket area and platforms.
Department of Health Travel Questionnaires
