Cape Town airport is still busy with an average of nearly 14 000 passengers arriving and 12 230 leaving every day, according to senior communications manager Deborah Francis.
British Airways is celebrating the 80th anniversary of flights between London and Cape Town with special offers from R8 764 to the UK and other destinations in Europe, the US and Canada. Travel is from now until June 21 but tickets must be bought before February 12.
According to the latest International Air Transport Association business confidence survey, most airlines are reporting slowing demand, with the Eurozone troubles affecting business travel in particular.
But Daniel Bainbridge, BA’s new strategic commercial manager for SA, said the airline was having a busy holiday season in this country. BA is going ahead with plans to increase the number of flights between Joburg and London next winter and will use a giant Airbus A380 on the route next year, like Lufthansa and Air France. He said BA is also supporting efforts to extend Cape Town’s holiday season to make it a year-round destination, and will introduce more flights if it succeeds.
Eighty years ago, the first passenger service between the UK and Cape Town was operated with biplanes carrying only seven passengers. The flight took more than a week, with several overnight stops on the way. Flying became available to the mass market only in the 1970s when the introduction of the Boeing 747 cut both the cost and the time of the flight.
BA now offers a choice of two daily nonstop flights from Cape Town in summer, with 337 seats in four classes and arrival in London/Heathrow 12 hours after take-off. It switches to one flight a day in our winter months when demand drops.
Demand for passenger flights and cargo space increased dramatically after 1994. But Bainbridge recalled that protectionism for SA Airways limited the air traffic rights granted to British and other foreign airlines and it was only in October 2006 that BA was finally able to offer the schedule it wanted.
New developments include the acceptance of BA’s offer to buy loss-making British Midland Airline from German airline Lufthansa, subject to regulatory approval. This, if it is allowed to go ahead, will give BA more of the sought-after slots at Heathrow and a fleet of small aircraft with between 50 and 100 seats suitable for use on “fairly thin” routes.
Bainbridge said BMI had made heavy losses but BA would be able to turn it around. Its routes to North Africa had been badly affected by the “Arab spring” revolutions, but it also had routes in Eastern Europe, central Asia and the former USSR, including oil-producing areas.
Bookings open
Low-cost airline 1time is starting a service from Johannesburg to the historic port and holiday resort of Mombasa in Kenya in March, and is already accepting bookings. It is offering package deals on its website similar to those that have stimulated demand for its flights to Zanzibar. Protectionism for Mozambican national airline LAM, which limited the number of passengers it was allowed to carry on its flights to Maputo, caused it to withdraw from the route last year.
BA/Comair, which took over the route using smaller aircraft and flying from privately owned Lanseria Airport, where charges are lower, has also announced its withdrawal because it is unprofitable. But Comair chief executive Erik Venter says it might return if the circumstances change.
King Shaka Airport
Emirates Airline and Air Mauritius are still the only international airlines flying into Durban’s King Shaka Airport despite attempts to attract others, which all prefer to take their passengers from overseas to Joburg, where they transfer to local airlines. Comair suggested extending its BA franchise to flights from Durban to London last year but was advised against it following a feasibility study by BA.
However, Emirates announced this week that it would increase its capacity on the route by nearly 30 percent by substituting a larger Boeing 777 Extended Range for the Airbus A330-200 it uses at present. Jean-Luc Grillet, Emirates’ senior vice-president for operations in Africa, said the increase was in response to strong demand. - Weekend Argus