A temporary water outage disrupted operations at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg over the weekend, leaving passengers and businesses without access to basic facilities for several hours.
Five-hour shutdown affects terminals and airport businesses
The interruption occurred on 6th of March Saturday morning between 6am and 11am and affected both the domestic and international terminals of South Africa’s busiest airport.
Airport management indicated on social media that the shutdown was related to ongoing maintenance work.
The early morning period is typically one of the busiest times at the airport, which serves as the primary international gateway into South Africa. During the outage, travellers reported that restrooms and handwashing facilities were unavailable.
Tenants operating inside the airport also reported significant disruptions to their businesses.
One restaurant owner said the outage caused a loss of about R10,000 in revenue over a short period of time. According to the operator, the lack of water made it impossible to brew coffee, wash dishes or maintain basic hygiene standards for staff.
“In a short space of time it became a health risk,” the restaurateur said, explaining that kitchen staff were unable to wash their hands and cleaning operations could not continue.
The owner added that if multiple eateries experienced similar losses, the financial impact across the airport could amount to several hundred thousand rand. Tenants said they had not been warned in advance about the maintenance work and do not expect compensation.
Passengers also voiced frustration online.
One traveller wrote on Facebook that the situation was unacceptable, noting that family members waiting for flights could not access functioning restrooms. The traveller also questioned whether the airport had a backup water supply system.
Political figures also weighed in on the issue. Democratic Alliance Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille described the outage as “incredible in the true sense of the word.”
Social media commentary reflected both frustration and a degree of humour among South Africans reacting to the incident. Some users posted sarcastic remarks about infrastructure challenges in the country.
Infrastructure challenges continue at South Africa’s busiest airport
The outage comes amid a series of infrastructure-related incidents affecting major South African airports in recent months.
Late last year, OR Tambo International Airport experienced several power outages that disrupted operations. Earlier this year, heavy storms caused significant roof leaks in the domestic departures terminal.
In another recent incident, a fire disrupted international flights at Cape Town International Airport about ten days ago.
Airports Company South Africa (Acsa), the state-owned entity responsible for managing the country’s major airports, had not responded to requests for comment by the time of publication.
