It is located at the north-western edge of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality (south-west of Centurion and Pretoria).

[1] Lanseria Airport started out as a grass strip airfield in 1972, the brainchild of two Pretoria pilots: Fanie Haacke and Abe Sher.

The land was originally bought by Krugersdorp and Roodepoort Municipality together with the Transvaal Peri-Urban Board and contracted to Lanseria Management Company on a 99-year lease since 1972.

On 15 November 2012, the airport was sold to a consortium consisting of Harith, an infrastructure development fund management company; the women's empowerment company Nozala; and the Government Employee Pension Fund, through the Public Investment Corporation.

Taxiway Alpha is also to be upgraded and will enable the airport to accommodate larger aircraft such as the Boeing 777 and Airbus A330.