SAA will discontinue its direct flights from Beijing with effect from March 29, but it is unclear when Air China will begin operating this route.

SAA announced earlier this month that it would cut its Beijing route, which would be serviced from May by Air China as part of a codeshare agreement.

However, at the time of publication, SAA could not confirm the exact date when the codeshare with Air China would take effect. SAA could also not confirm how passengers already booked on flights on the route from March 29 onwards would be re-accommodated. SAA is currently the only airline operating direct flights on this route.

Inbound operators do not see a possible lack of direct flights during April having a significant impact on arrival numbers because this is not a peak period for the Chinese market. Frank Glettenberg, CEO Southern Africa of Private Safaris, told Tourism Update the peak season for the Chinese market was November to February. Terry Fenton-Wells, Director at SA Magic Tours, also explained that because April was preceded by the Chinese New Year, it was not a peak travel period for the Chinese market.

Fenton-Wells was also enthusiastic about Air China’s plans to operate the route. “We’re excited about it because it will stimulate more business.” She pointed out that, given Air China’s domestic network, it would be able to feed the flights with this network, although she added that flights out of Shanghai would be preferable to Beijing.

Glettenberg emphasised that there were two major areas of concern for this market – the still unclear and unsolved situation regarding visa requirements as well as what he described as the “unfounded fear of contracting Ebola in South Africa”. “While the Ebola topic will sort itself in the midterm, I strongly believe that the cumbersome visa application process is preventing an effective marketing of SA as a destination of choice.”

Commenting on the cut, David Frost, SATSA CEO, said the issue of international routes was a double- edged sword.  “From an inbound tourism perspective, the more direct flights into South Africa, the better.  However, there is a need as a country to operate these at some level of balanced return on investment, which is a combination of route profitability and overall in-country injection from increased tourism.” He added that the route had long been criticised as loss making.

Frost said that while the association was kept abreast of the developments by SAA, he would like to see more interaction. For example, he said, decisions on routes should be presented in a transparent fashion, looking at what the overall return on investment to the country was. “How does Treasury make a call on projections when we do not have arrival statistics since March 2014?” he asked. “Another key factor determining route viability is the demand ex-South Africa. This was evident in the pulling of the Buenos Aires route,” said Frost. “We would encourage more interaction with ASATA and tourism authorities of countries SAA flies to in order to strengthen this.”