South Africa’s O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg has taken a step up in the world by gaining a world-class FBO. Established by the aviation-loving Oppenheimer family and with a new terminal building and existing vast hangar (that could house three Airbus A380s), the FBO is set to put Jo’burg’s airport on the business aviation map.
Jonathan Oppenheimer, director, told AIN that the new Fireblade FBO has fulfilled a long-held dream of the family, which is intrinsically linked not only with the world of diamond mining (De Beers and Anglo American) but also with aviation. In fact, the family’s own corporate flight department, now separate from Anglo American, is “the oldest corporate flight department in the world, at about 77,” said Oppenheimer, a claim that has been backed up by the NBAA, he added. The idea of the setting up an FBO at Johannesburg goes back “at least 20 or 30 years,” he said.
