{"id":630585,"date":"2026-02-24T13:42:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T11:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=630585"},"modified":"2026-02-24T15:11:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T13:11:33","slug":"major-south-african-airport-cancels-all-flights-after-fire-breaks-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/motoring\/630585-major-south-african-airport-cancels-all-flights-after-fire-breaks-out.html","title":{"rendered":"Major South African airport cancels flights after fire breaks out"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Flights from Cape Town International Airport have been cancelled after a fire broke out in one of its terminal buildings, resulting in passengers being evacuated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to an eyewitness at the scene, the fire appeared to be by gates A4 and A5. Based on leaked communications from airport staff, the fire originated from the Kenya Airways office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The source or circumstances of the fire are not yet known, but it is under control. All electrical and operational systems at the airport are offline, with no estimated restoration time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All baggage handling has been suspended. The smoke damage is extensive, with widespread disruptions to airport operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is no plan at the airport to communicate with passengers,  so no preparedness for such an emergency,\u201d one passenger told MyBroadband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No backup generators kicked in, meaning there was no power, no computers, and no flights moving. Just thousands of people milling around in the main check-in foyer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost of the desk crew and others in uniform are hanging over the wall to look at where the fire engines are mopping up!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following publication, Cape Town International Airport confirmed that a fire occurred on the airport’s landside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fire has been extinguished, and all passengers, staff, and visitors are safe. “Passenger safety remains our highest priority,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We understand that this incident may have caused concern, and we urge all passengers and visitors to follow security instructions and proceed to designated places of safety as directed by airport personnel.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It confirmed that the fire affected network and IT services, including airport Wi-Fi and other essential systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“As a precautionary measure, international departures have been temporarily suspended, and incoming international flights are being diverted. International flights that have already landed are being processed,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Passengers travelling on domestic departures or arriving on domestic flights are advised to check directly with their airlines and the ACSA Mobile App for the latest flight information.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At around 14:30, passengers began reporting that they were being told flights were resuming. Shortly after that, power was restored to the domestic terminal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Only local flights are manually security screening. And manually screaming for the ten people near them to hear, of what they are trying to board,” one passenger told MyBroadband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“No loudhailers, no whiteboards with koki pens. All the office workers are sitting smug in their offices, as they not ground staff.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Passengers booked to fly on FA349, FlySafair’s 14:00 flight from Cape Town to Lanseria Airport in Johannesburg, were told just before 15:00 that their flight was boarding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They dragged a FlySafair board to a gate now and on enquiry said they that they are boarding our Lanseria flight,” a passenger on the flight reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos of firefighters and passengers at Cape Town International Airport<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Flights from Cape Town International Airport have been cancelled after a fire broke out in one of its terminal buildings, resulting in passengers being evacuated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":630587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49317,29366],"tags":[71152,32176],"class_list":["post-630585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-it-services","category-motoring","tag-airports-company-of-south-africa-acsa","tag-cape-town-international-airport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630585"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630585"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":630633,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630585\/revisions\/630633"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/630587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}