Upington Airport

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Upington Airport
IATA: UTN – ICAO: FAUP
Summary
Airport type		Public
Serves		Upington, Northern Cape
Elevation AMSL		844 m / ft
Coordinates		28°24′04″S 21°15′35″E / -28.40111, 21.25972
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	m	ft	Surface
17/35	4,900	16,076	Asphalt
01/19	2,438	7,998	Asphalt
08/26	1,829	6,000	Asphalt

Upington Airport (IATA: UTN, ICAO: FAUP) is an airport located in Upington, Northern Cape, South Africa.

Lufthansa, Cargolux, South African Airways, and Warbird Cargo fly cargo flights to Upington.

The South African Air Force and South African Airways uses this airport to train pilots for the Boeing 747 and Boeing 707, as well as the Boeing 737 Presidential Jet.

From 1976 to 1996, South African Airways used the airport as a refuelling stop for its Boeing 747 flights to Europe. South Africa had lost its landing and overfly rights on most of the African continent because of apartheid, so SAA planes were forced to fly from Johannesburg to Upington, take on fuel, then fly non-stop over the Atlantic to Europe to avoid unfriendly airspace. In order to support the required takeoff distance of a Boeing 747 fully loaded with fuel, passengers and cargo in temperates often exceeding 40 degrees Celsius, one of the world's longest commercial runways (4900m long) was built here. The runway is also designed to be the Southern Hemisphere alternate runway for a Space Shuttle landing.