British Airways is hoping to increase its summer peak frequencies to 21 a week from Johannesburg and 14 a week from Cape Town in the next three years if the world economy continues to recover. This is the word from BA’s Regional Commercial Manager for Africa, Ian Petrie. He told a media briefing in Cape Town the airline was expecting “a reasonably good Cape Town summer season”. Seat factors on the route were 95% in October and 90% in early November and although it was still early days, forward bookings were encouraging. The carrier expects to carry 94 000 people to Cape Town over the summer season.  It currently operates 13 frequencies to and from Cape Town using a mix of B777s and B747s. Petrie said BA expected delivery of its first A380 super jumbo by 2012.  Johannesburg would be one of the first routes where it would be introduced, with Cape Town some time thereafter if demand sufficed. BA, he said, was “cautiously optimistic” about South Africa. He said the airline was well positioned as the economy improved with a good schedule, an on-board product that would increasingly include an upgraded First product and easy transfers through Heathrow’s Terminal Five. In addition, it had hedged its bets by engaging the local SMME sector. “We’ve had a really good October with revenue, yield and passenger numbers all showing double-digit growth compared to the same month last year. November is looking tougher, particularly on the Johannesburg route.” Reasons for this, he continued, were that corporate travel had not yet recovered to pre-recession levels and this was particularly felt on the Johannesburg route, which BA now served double daily. “Full recovery will take some time. Corporates have put stricter policies in place restricting the frequency, extent and class of travel. These are not likely to change while there is still some uncertainty about the speed and sustainability of the recovery,” he explained. The airline earlier launched a ‘Business Opportunities’ programme, which raised its profile in the SMME sector and allowed small businesses to win international travel on BA.  It was about to relaunch a programme called ‘On-Business’, which rewards companies and individuals for flying with the airline. “These initiatives will take some time to work through and many businesses are now starting to wind down for the year,” he pointed out. Another factor affecting performance was the intense competition from Middle Eastern carriers, operating indirect services, which were attractive to leisure and VFR travellers.  “We have responded to this with a number of tactical offers, which have won us back some market share,” Petrie added. He said product improvements being introduced included online boarding passes in Johannesburg and Cape Town; an in-flight entertainment deal with the BBC; and an overhaul of menus in First, with other cabins to follow suit, including a specific menu for World Traveller Plus, the premium economy cabin.