Gqeberha (PLZ): the ten minute airport, under two new names
Five minutes from the central business district and the beachfront. Both the city and the airport have been renamed, which is the thing most likely to confuse you on a booking.
- The airport calls itself the ten minute airport, and means it: five minutes from the central business district and the beachfront, no more than ten from anywhere else that matters in the city.
- It is in Walmer, a suburb, about two miles south of the central business district.
- The airport was renamed in February 2021 from Port Elizabeth International Airport to Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport.
- The city was renamed too. Port Elizabeth is now Gqeberha. Both names are still in circulation and both appear on booking sites.
- The IATA code is still PLZ, which is the one thing that has not changed and the safest way to search.
- Car rental offices are in the arrivals area, alongside the baggage belts and customs counters, with exits to taxis and public transport.
- A metered taxi is the normal way in and at these distances it is a small fare.
- It handles over one million passengers a year with terminal capacity for two million after expansion.
- This is the gateway to the Garden Route from the east and to Addo Elephant National Park, about an hour north.
The names, which are the real trap
- The airport is Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport, renamed in February 2021. Before that it was Port Elizabeth International Airport, and before that H. F. Verwoerd Airport.
- The city is Gqeberha, formerly Port Elizabeth.
- Both old names are still everywhere, on booking engines, in guidebooks and in conversation. Locals frequently still say PE.
- Search on PLZ. The IATA code is unchanged and it removes the ambiguity entirely.
- Chief Dawid Stuurman was a Khoikhoi leader who resisted colonial expansion in the Eastern Cape and escaped from Robben Island twice.
Ten minutes
- The airport's own description: within five minutes drive of the central business district and the beachfront, and no more than ten minutes from other areas of importance in the city.
- That is unusual and it changes the arrival calculation. There is no long transfer to price, no airport express to find, and a taxi fare that is a rounding error against the flight.
- It is in Walmer, roughly two miles south of the centre, which is how it manages that.
At the airport
- The arrivals area holds the baggage belts, customs counters, car rental offices and the exits to taxis and public transport, all in one space.
- Car hire is the sensible choice if you are driving the Garden Route, which most visitors here are.
- The airport handles over a million passengers a year and the expanded terminal is built for two million, so it is rarely under strain.
- It was established in 1929, which makes it one of the older airports still in daily use in South Africa.
Where you go from here
- The Garden Route runs west from here to Knysna, Plettenberg Bay and eventually Cape Town.
- Addo Elephant National Park is about an hour north, and is malaria free, which is the reason a lot of families choose the Eastern Cape over Kruger.
- Gqeberha's own beachfront is five minutes from the terminal, which very few airports anywhere can say.
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