The airport is located 5 km (3.1 mi) northeast of the city's central business district, on the western banks of the White Nile.

Juba Airport handles international and local airlines, cargo air traffic and chartered commercial flights.

It is also used by the South Sudanese military and by the United Nations agencies such as UNMISS, UNHAS and the World Food Programme, as well as the ICRC and many NGOs for relief flights for the country.

In February 1931, Imperial Airways opened the first 2,670 miles of the weekly Croydon to Tanganyika Territory (now part of Tanzania) portion of the Cape to Cairo air-route, and established a mooring place near Rejaf to the south of Juba, for Imperial Airways' Calcutta flying-boats, which carried passengers between Khartoum and Kisumu.

[citation needed] In July 2014, the government announced a runway extension project to commence in September 2014 lasting 30 months.

[12] During this time the terminal consisted of two adjacent tents to facilitate customs and immigration, arrivals and departures.

[1] The runway has five serviceable taxiways; Alpha, Bravo, Delta, Echo and Foxtrot (the latter is used by the military exclusively).