More international flights to Cape Town and Durban could be on the cards – several airlines showed interest in flying to both cities at the recent World Route Development Forum in China – something that can in part be attributed to local governments incentivising carriers to fly to South Africa.
Cape Town Air Access asserts that travellers will be able to fly Cape Town-US direct by 2018. While none of the major US carriers could confirm this, Project Director, Paul van den Brink, says there are three US carriers that want to engage with Cape Town to create business cases for a route to the city.
Durban has also seen considerable interest from international carriers with passenger growth increasing by 14% between September 2015 and August 2016. This followed the introduction of an air services committee that co-ordinates and promotes international air services into King Shaka International Airport through marketing and incentive support programmes, Hamish Erskine, CEO of Dube TradePort told Tourism Update.
The committee, established by the KZN MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs three years ago, evaluates airlines that want to fly to Durban and then, dependent on the service proposed, airlines can qualify for technical incentives or marketing support, or both.
“Approved technical incentives would typically cover the cost of the landing and navigation fees incurred by the airline at King Shaka International on a reducing scale over three years,” says Erskine, while marketing support could include destination marketing in the source country.
He says the most likely routes to Durban are London and Mumbai, and that Dube TradePort has a strong business case for a Durban-London route, with BA showing particular interest during the Routes Forum. But the airline says it has no plans to fly to Durban just yet.
Dube TradePort has had discussions with both Air India and SAA over a Mumbai route.
Meanwhile, ORTIA's status as an African hub is under threat.
By Debbie Badham and Darise Foster
This story has been updated since first publication.
