 With the creation of the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) in the mid-nineties, a plan to commercialise the airport begun with new passenger and retail and airside facilities to handle a larger amount of planes completing this phase in 2004.The airport overtook Cairo International Airport in 1996 as the busiest airport in Africa and is the fourth-busiest airport in the Africa–Middle East region after Dubai International Airport, Hamad International Airport, and Abu Dhabi International Airport.In fiscal year 2010, the airport handled 8.82 million departing passengers.