Edelweiss Air will add an extra flight to its Zurich-Cape Town route in October, taking the number of weekly flights to four.

The announcement was welcomed by the Cape Town Air Access initiative, a partnership between Wesgro, the City of Cape Town, the Western Cape Government, Airports Company South Africa, Cape Town Tourism and South African Tourism.

Since its inception, the Cape Town Air Access initiative has helped land 13 direct routes and 15 route expansions. This is estimated to have added R4.2bn (€282m) to the provincial economy in direct tourism spend.

“The additional flight reflects positively on the popularity of Cape Town and the Western Cape for European travellers. Following the extra flight in 2017, the airline is now going to expand again in 2018. This shows that there is confidence in our destination," commented Wesgro CEO, Tim Harris.

The Switzerland-Cape Town route has seen growth of 7% between January and March 2018, compared with the same period in 2017.

Said Harris: “Making it easier for more people to visit the Cape by air provides a big boost toward growing tourism and encouraging investment – which ultimately boosts our economy and, more importantly, facilitates job creation.”

The Executive Mayor of the City of Cape Town, Patricia de Lille said: “This is excellent news and demonstrates the great appetite amongst European travellers to visit Cape Town. By improving air connectivity, we are making it easier to do business in Cape Town in line with our goals to grow the economy and create more jobs. I want to thank Edelweiss Air for its confidence in our city and wish them continued success with this route.”

Western Cape Minister of Economic Opportunities, Alan Winde, commented: “We welcome this addition, which will help to grow tourism and create important jobs in this sector in line with our Project Khulisa plans.”