WKFmedium airport

Waterkloof Air Force Base

Pretoria, South Africa

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FAWK

ICAO

4940 ft

Elevation

TravelerPulse profile

South Africa's premier military air base near Pretoria.

Opened

1938

Location

Pretoria, South Africa

Waterkloof Air Force Base is the primary military airfield of the South African Air Force (SAAF), located near Centurion, south of Pretoria, in Gauteng Province. It serves as a key installation for VIP and state transport flights, including movements of senior government officials and the South African President. The base is operated by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and is not a commercial airport, though it handles limited authorized non-military traffic. It has been the arrival and departure point for numerous high-profile international state visits and diplomatic missions. Waterkloof gained international attention in 2013 when a Gupta family-chartered aircraft carrying wedding guests was controversially permitted to land at the restricted military base, sparking a major political scandal in South Africa.

Terminals

There are no public commercial passenger terminals; the base has dedicated military and VIP facilities for authorized users only.

Getting to & from

The base is accessible primarily by private road vehicle; there is no public ground transport link connecting it to Pretoria or Johannesburg.

Airlines here

No commercial airlines operate scheduled services from Waterkloof; the South African Air Force operates military and state transport aircraft from this base.

Notable facts

›Serves as the official arrival point for visiting heads of state and dignitaries to South Africa.
›Home to No. 21 Squadron SAAF, which handles VIP and Presidential transport.
›The 2013 'Guptagate' scandal involved an unauthorized civilian charter landing at the restricted base.
›Located approximately 40 km south of central Pretoria near Centurion.
›Operates under strict military security with access tightly controlled by the SANDF.

Wikipedia

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Encyclopaedia

Air Force Base Waterkloof is an airbase of the South African Air Force. It is situated on the outskirts of Pretoria, and is the SAAF's busiest airbase. The base's name means "water ravine" in Afrikaans. Despite the name, this base is not located in the suburban town of Waterkloof, Pretoria, but lies to the south of Pretoria, 4.34 nmi (8.04 km) to the northeast of Centurion, Gauteng and 3.37 nmi (6.24 km) from AFB Swartkop, at an elevation of 1506 metres (4940 ft).

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