George Airport is an airport located in George, South Africa. It was formerly known as P.W. Botha Airport, named after the state president

Pieter Willem Botha

Pieter Willem Botha , commonly known as "P. W." and Die Groot Krokodil , was the prime minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and the first executive state president from 1984 to 1989.First elected to Parliament in 1948, Botha was for eleven years head of the Afrikaner National Party and the...

 who lived in this part of the country.

In 2004, the airport served 199,000 passengers, up from 154,000 in 2003.

This airport was built in 1977 as an exact replica of the Keetmanshoop

Keetmanshoop

Keetmanshoop is a city in Karas Region, southern Namibia, lying on the Trans-Namib Railway from Windhoek to Upington in South Africa. It is named after Johann Keetman, a German industrialist and founder of the city....

, Namibia

Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...

 airport. It has won awards for efficient operation two years running.

Airlines and destinations

Aviation

• Non-directional beacon
  Non-directional beacon
  A non-directional beacon is a radio transmitter at a known location, used as an aviation or marine navigational aid. As the name implies, the signal transmitted does not include inherent directional information, in contrast to other navigational aids such as low frequency radio range, VHF...
  
   - GG260.0 & GL 237.0
• VHF omnidirectional range
  VHF omnidirectional range
  VOR, short for VHF omnidirectional radio range, is a type of radio navigation system for aircraft. A VOR ground station broadcasts a VHF radio composite signal including the station's identifier, voice , and navigation signal. The identifier is typically a two- or three-letter string in Morse code...
  
   - GRV 116.60

Accidents and incidents

• 7 December 2009 - An Embraer ERJ 135 (registration:ZS-SJW) operated by Airlink
  Airlink
  Airlink is an airline based in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is privately owned and has developed into South Africa's first feeder network aimed at linking the smaller towns, regional centers and hubs throughout South Africa...
  
   on a scheduled flight (SA-8625) overrun the runway in wet conditions and ended up on a public road. No fatalities, but the plane suffered substantial damage.

See also

• List of airports in South Africa
• List of South African airports by passenger movements

External links

• George Airport Homepage
• More useful information about George Airport - History, pax numbers, planespotting, airlines, parking, car-rental...
• Aerial Photograph on Google Maps
• ATNS
• Weather SA - George Airport webcam