Upington Transportation

As our aircraft needed to make a refuelling stop after leaving Hotazel on its way to Cape Town, we landed at Upington. Expecting to see another narrow, little tarmac strip requiring a firm landing and plenty of brakes, the runway at Upington turns out to be one of the longest on the planet (4,900 metres). On our take off, we didn’t even bother to use the northern two-thirds of the runway.
Why? Well in the apartheid days, South African Airways were not allowed to refuel anywhere in Africa, so Upington airfield was upgraded to allow SAA’s 747s to refuel here, with an extra long runway close to the northern border allowing the aircraft to take off with a full load of fuel and passengers for London and Zurich. The runway was constructed in just five months in 1975. The more recent 747s, of course, fly a lot further with more passengers and more fuel, so Upington returned to being a small town airport in 1996.
The airport still sees the big planes regularly, as this is used for training SAA airline pilots.

And.....in case it is ever needed....Upington's runway is long enough to land the Space Shuttle in an emergency.