Cape Winelands Airport | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||||||||
 Cape Winelands Airport as viewed from the North and 1600 ft AGL | |||||||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Private | ||||||||||||||
| Owner | Cape Winelands Airport | ||||||||||||||
| Operator | Private | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | TheCity of Cape Town | ||||||||||||||
| Location | Lichtenburg Road, 13 km (8.1 mi) NE ofDurbanville,Cape Town,Western Cape | ||||||||||||||
| Opened | 1943; 82 years ago (1943) | ||||||||||||||
| Time zone | (UTC+02:00) | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 400 ft / 122 m | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 33°46′10″S18°44′00″E / 33.76944°S 18.73333°E /-33.76944; 18.73333 | ||||||||||||||
| Website | http://capewinelands.aero | ||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||
  Cape Winelands Airport Location within the Western Cape | |||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Lights are available on request fromCTFTC. The Cape Talk Radio AM transmission mast is located 5 NM north of FAWN on frequency 567 kHz. Magic Radio 828 kHz is 8 NM NNE of the field. Both can be used for ADF training. | |||||||||||||||
Cape Winelands Airport (CWA) is a privately-ownedairfield located in theCity of Cape Town,South Africa.
It is situated approximately 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) northeast of the town ofDurbanville, in theNorthern Suburbs, and currently serves as a general flying airfield, used for flight, circuit, and emergency training, as well as for private flights to and from theCape Winelands region.
As of mid-2025, the airport is in the planning phases for redevelopment, and is set to serve asCape Town's secondinternational airport on completion. The project is being driven by RSA.aero, a consortium of aviation industry veterans. Funding talks are underway, an Environmental Authorization (EA) has been submitted, and the airport aims to accommodate over 5 million passengers annually by 2050.[2]
The airport was built in its original form in 1943, on a 150 ha site, for use by theSouth African Air Force. Originally called Fisantekraal Airport, it had 4 runways.[1]
The airfield was transferred to the local municipality in the 1960s, and it was sold to a private owner in 1993.[1]
In 2021, South African billionaire Rob Hersov announced his intention to buy the airport and turn it into a secondary aviation hub for Cape Town, focusing on local flights.[3]
As of 2025, only 2 of the original 4 runways are still in use: 05/23 and 14/32.[1] The old taxiways and other runways are no longer used, but are still visible from overhead. Planning for redevelopment into an international commercial airport is underway.
In September 2025, the Managing Director of Cape Winelands Airport, Deon Cloete (former General Manager ofCape Town International Airport), stated that adding a second airport to an international city like Cape Town would increase global competitiveness. He further said that adding increased aviation capacity would provide for continued flights if one airport were to close temporarily.[4]
In October 2025, South Africa's largestreal estate investment trust (REIT),Growthpoint Properties, became an investment, development, and managing partner of Cape Winelands Airport. Growthpoint made an initial, undisclosed investment in the project, and holds the right to future investments.[5]
Under the agreement, Growthpoint assumed long-term property and asset management responsibilities across the 450-ha aviation precinct’s logistics, commercial, and hospitality components (which excludes the terminal buildings), and has the right of first refusal to co-invest in future property developments. Furthermore, Growthpoint will oversee the development’s main contractor to ensure delivery of the project.[5]
For its part, the Cape Winelands Airport team will lead aviation strategy and master planning of the international aviation hub.[5]
In November 2025, it was reported that the airport had secured Environmental Authorization (EA) from theWestern Cape Government.[6]
Cape Winelands Airport is located in theNorthern Suburbs region of theCity of Cape Town, northeast ofDurbanville and west ofPaarl. The airport is situated approximately 39 km fromCape Town International Airport, 43 km fromCape Town CBD, 42 km from theV&A Waterfront, and 46 km fromTable Mountain.
The airport's entrance is on theR312 road (Lichtenburg Road), and the nearest major route towards Cape Town and Paarl is theN1 freeway. Its location is considerably more rural than Cape Town International, which is situated in urban Cape Town, closer to the CBD and most major tourist attractions.
Cape Winelands Airport airspace is uncontrolled Class G and has its own radio frequency of 131.1 MHz. Broadcasts are addressed to Winelands Traffic.[1] Joiningaltitude is restricted to 2000 ft AMSL by the Cape Town TMA sector A overhead. The Cape Town CTR is approximately 3.5 NM southwest of the field.
Circuits are all flown at 1200 ft AMSL for aeroplanes andhelicopters, and 900 ft AMSL formicrolights. All turns are made to the left. The circuit is restricted to a 2.5 nm radius from the centre of the airfield.[1]
Avgas 100LL fuel and W100 oil are available.[1]
Magnetic variation is approx 23° W near Cape Winelands Airport. There are tall mountain ranges to the southeast of the field extending to 6600 ft AMSL. The prevailing wind is southeasterly in summer and northwesterly in winter. Summer temperatures can reach 40 °C, resulting in a maximum density altitude of about 3200 ft. The general flying areas nearby are FAD200 about 10 minutes to the northwest on 124.4 MHz, and FAD69 about five minutes to the north on 124.2 MHz.[1]
As of August 2017, the largest aircraft to have landed at Cape Winelands Airport was aLockheed C-130 Hercules 5X-UCF, making several landings. Advertisements and movies have also been filmed on location at Cape Winelands Airport.
There are plans to convert the Cape Winelands Airport into an international airport, which will make it the second international airport in theCity of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality.[12][13] The airport improvement program is planned to be done in an 18 to 24 month period, starting within the last few months of 2025, with the commissioning planned for early 2028.[14][15]
With a Phase 1 investment of aroundR8 billion,[13] plans include the completion of a 3.5 km (2.2 mi) runway,[13] the setting up of a warehousing facility[12] and the building of a passenger terminal that can accommodate 5.2 million passengers yearly.[14]
Phase 1 is part of a broader, multi-year precinct development, which is set to cost around R16 to R20 billion, and include industrial, retail, office, logistics, and hospitality properties. The project is positioned to create around 35,000 direct and indirect jobs during construction, increasing to over 100,000 over the first 20 years of operation.
The airport will also add 110,000 tons of air-cargo capacity to the region, which equates to 25% of all air cargo entering South Africa in 2025. The new airport aims to have around a quarter share of the 10 million additional passengers that Cape Town is projected to receive by 2050. By working in tandem with Cape Town International, the new airport will save the industry 22 million liters of fuel a year, removing about 60 million kilograms of annual carbon emissions.
In terms of sustainability, CWA has set the goal of becoming the greenest airport in the world, integrating renewable energy sources, off-grid water recycling, and afynbos nature reserve into its design.[16]
{{cite journal}}:Missing or empty|title= (help){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)