Fireblade executive terminal at OR Tambo airport is now handling international flights

The Fireblade Aviation Fixed-Base Operations (FBO) terminal at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport handled its first international flight last week, the company reported on Tuesday. A FBO is a private air terminal, to cater for VIP and VVIP passengers, flying into, out of and within a country on executive aircraft. Any and all international flights are controlled by national authorities. FBOs are common, worldwide. “We are excited to service international movements, which will complement our current domestic aircraft movements and enable Fireblade Aviation to fulfil its intended potential,” enthused company CEO Jonathan Oppenheimer. The arriving international flight and its passengers were met and cleared by officials and officers of the Department of Home Affairs, the South African Revenue Services and the South African Police Service. The Fireblade terminal is located on a corner of the Denel site at the airport, on the opposite side of the runways from the main passenger terminals (Denel is itself a tenant of the Airports Company South Africa, or ACSA, which owns and operates OR Tambo International Airport). International travellers pass through a “sterile” customs and immigration area, whose design was controlled by Government officials, located adjacent to the Fireblade business lounge.