The popular London to Cape Town route became busier with the arrival of the inaugural Norse Atlantic Airlines flight on Tuesday, October 29.

The seasonal flight, three times per week, will compete with British Airways’ permanent service and Virgin Atlantic’s seasonal service.

The sold-out inaugural flight was late landing in Cape Town as the pilot took passengers on a scenic tour of the city before touching down to a water salute and welcome from a marimba band.

On the flight was Norse Atlantic CEO and founder Bjørn Tore Larsen who said the airline was born from an ambition to “be the explorers’ airline”.

He identified the need for more flights last year when he found his return flight from Cape Town to London very expensive.

“I almost had to sell my house. It was so expensive. I thought there must be room for more competition and there must be somebody who can make it a little bit more affordable to fly between those two cities.”

The airline follows the ABC rule – affordable but comfortable – Larsen pointed out.

Norse Atlantic exclusively flies modern Boeing 787 Dreamliners with two cabin options: economy and Norse Premium. Fares start from around £219 (approximately R5 019 or €260) and the airline is targeting leisure and business travellers.

Its presence on the route is currently only seasonal until the end of April.

Speaking at the launch event, Bronwen Auret, Chief Quality Assurance Officer for SA Tourism, said the Norse flights will boost South Africa’s top source market, the UK, which accounts for almost 400 000 arrivals in the country.

“This is going to be a very fruitful route for us as we welcome more arrivals from the UK.”

The route between London and Cape Town is currently the busiest between South Africa and Europe, according to data from the Centre of Aviation. Its projections show, in the week of January 13 next year, there will be over 8 000 seats between London (Heathrow and Gatwick) and Cape Town with British Airways and Virgin Atlantic accounting for over 7 000.

The Centre of Aviation also predicts that Norse will have 0.6% of total seats between Europe and South Africa this year, growing to 2.6% in the next winter season.

James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth in Cape Town, said Norse joins 226 international flights landing at Cape Town International Airport weekly from 31 destinations.

“For every 100 international travellers arriving in our city and in the Western Cape, it generates R2.1 million in tourism spend.”