The town of George lies halfway between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth on South Africa’s ever-popular Garden Route.
With more and more visitors travelling to the region’s mountains, beaches and forests, George airport now handles over 600,000 passengers each year. The increasing popularity of the area as a tourist destination is expected to boost traffic even further.
But the airport does not only play a central role in the region’s tourist economy. It is also a national distribution hub for cargo such as flowers, fish, oysters, herbs and ferns.
George Airport’s steady growth, coupled with an unwavering commitment to service and efficiency, has won it the South African Airport of the Year award six times.
This airport was originally built in 1977 as an exact replica of the Keetmanshoop Airport in Namibia, however since expansion and changes it doesn’t look similar anymore. It has won awards for efficient operation two years running.[clarification needed]
In 2013, the airport served 560,432 passengers, substantially more than the 154,000 in 2003. From 2014 onwards continued increase in passenger numbers were witnessed, with 2016 recording a record number of passengers of 738,475, closing in on the design capacity of the airport which should necessitate further terminal expansion in the near future.