The Durban International Airport which is now formerly known as the King Shaka International Airport, or KSIA for short is located to the north 35 kilometres from the city centre of Durban. The airport was opened just one month prior to the FIFA World Cup in 2010. Even with the change in airport name the IATA reference of DUR has remained the same.
The much larger and improved terminal was built as a key component of the 'Golden Triangle' between Johannesburg and Cape Town. Currently Air Mauritius, Airlink, British Airways, Emirates, Kulula.com, LOT Polish Airlines, Mango, South African Airways and South African Express are the main carriers that operate out of King Shaka International Airport.
The airport handles just over 4.7 million passengers every year, and in 2013 it won the prestigious Best Airport in the World handling under 5 million passengers from Skytrax.
The passenger terminal is a single building with an upper floor designated for departures, and the lower floor being for arrivals with the baggage claim areas here also. The terminal was actually built to accommodate up to 7.5 million passengers if required. There are 18 check-in self-service kiosks and 72 check-in counters. There are separate security screening checkpoints to facilitate faster processing of both domestic and international passengers.
There are 52 different retail outlets at the airport, as well as other essential services such as ATM's, currency exchanges, post office, pharmacies etc.
