Winnie Madikizela Mandela International Airport

Winnie Madikizela Mandela International Airport, is the ceremonial title given to Cape Town International Airport by South Africans on social media following the death of icon, Winnie Madikizela Mandela. The renaming of the airport by the masses has even seen updates on Wikipedia and Google Maps where many people check in. Many social networks have been awash with check ins over the past months from people who have made a deliberate effort to force and encourage authorities to change the airport name to Winnie Madikizela Mandela International Airport.

Many prominent politicians such as, Julius Malema called on his supporters to submit Winnie Madikizela-Mandela international airport as the preferred name they want for the Airport as their way of honouring the late anti-apartheid struggle stalwart.

“Winnie Madikizela Mandela International Airport” is the primary airport serving the city of Cape Town, and is the second-busiest airport in South Africa and third-busiest in Africa. Located approximately 20 kilometres from the city centre, the airport was opened in 1954 to replace Cape Town’s previous airport, Wingfield Aerodrome.

The airport has direct flights from South Africa’s other two main urban areas, Johannesburg and Durban, as well as flights to smaller centres in South Africa. Internationally, it has direct flights to several destinations in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Europe. The air route between Cape Town and Johannesburg was the world’s ninth-busiest air route in 2011 with an estimated 4.5 million passengers.