Cape Winelands Airport

Cape Winelands Airport is a privately owned airfield located in Cape Town, South Africa.

Cape Winelands Airport
Cape Winelands Airport as viewed from the North and 1600 ft AGL
IATA: none ICAO: FAWN
Summary
Airport type	Private
Owner	Cape Winelands Airport
Operator	Private
Serves	The City of Cape Town
Location	Lichtenburg Road, 13 km (8.1 mi) NE of Durbanville, Cape Town, Western Cape
Opened	1943; 82 years ago (1943)
Elevation AMSL	400 ft / 122 m
Coordinates	33°46′10″S 18°44′00″E
Website	http://capewinelands.aero
Map
Cape Winelands Airport Location within the Western Cape
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 05/23 900 2,952 Concrete[1] 14/32 700 2,296 Concrete[1]
Lights are available on request from CTFTC. 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.

It is situated approximately 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) northeast of the town of Durbanville, in the Northern 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 the Cape Winelands region.

As of mid-2025, the airport is in the planning phases for redevelopment, and is set to serve as Cape Town's second international 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]

History

The airport was built in its original form in 1943, on a 150 ha site, for use by the South 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.

Aerodrome and airspace information

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] Joining altitude 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 and helicopters, and 900 ft AMSL for microlights. 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]

Other information

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 a Lockheed C-130 Hercules 5X-UCF, making several landings. Advertisements and movies have also been filmed on location at Cape Winelands Airport.

Operators

• International Aviation centre South Africa^[4]
• Cape Town Flight Training Centre^[5] provides Private, Night, Instrument and Commercial flight training^[6]
• Sky Messaging provides banner aerotow services^[7]
• Working on Fire organisation used to have a summer base at Cape Winelands Airport, but this has recently been closed.^[8]

Trivia

• The Lockheed C-130 Hercules, Call sign 5X-UCF, was flown in as part of The Red Sea Diving Resort (2018) movie that was filmed on location.

Planned developments

There are plans to convert the Cape Winelands Airport into an international airport, which will make it the second international airport in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality.^[9][10] 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.^[11][12]

With an investment of R7.7 billion,^[10] plans include the completion of a 3.5 km (2.2 mi) runway,^[10] the setting up of a warehousing facility^[9] and the building of a passenger terminal that can accommodate 5.2 million passengers yearly.^[11]