Cape Town’s tourism stakeholders have reacted with disappointment to Etihad Airways’ announcement that it will scrap Cape Town from its schedule from January.

Etihad earlier announced time changes to its daily Johannesburg service from January 24, which may enable it to introduce a second daily flight in future. However, under the new schedule, all Etihad flights to South Africa will terminate in Johannesburg and no longer operate through to Cape Town. The airline said it was examining other means of serving the Cape Town market and already had in place arrangements to offer passengers connections in partnership with local carriers.

Ethihad told Tourism Update the decision had nothing to do with the Cape Town route being unprofitable. “It's about maximising connections through our hub of Abu Dhabi. It is a question of getting improved connectivity for South African travellers. This change in our Johannesburg schedule has allowed us to increase flight connection options from 185 per week to 368 per week, while still allowing convenient connections between Cape Town and Johannesburg in partnership with other airlines,” the airline said.

Fedhasa Cape Chairman, Dirk Elzinga, said Etihad’s decision was a pity because direct access definitely helped to grow interest in Cape Town as a destination and Fedhasa Cape members on many occasions had underlined the importance of direct international access. He said the inconvenience of having to change flights in Johannesburg may result in fewer Etihad passengers continuing to Cape Town but hopefully this could be compensated for if Etihad extended its schedule to South Africa to twice daily. Fedhasa Cape was also eager to hear more about Etihad’s promise to serve Cape Town by other means, he said.

Cape Town Routes Unlimited CEO, Calvyn Gilfellan, expressed disappointment at Etihad’s decision.  “As much as this is a reflection of the tough trading environment we find ourselves in, this loss is being off-set by new direct flights by Air France and Edelweiss Air,” he said.

Western Cape Tourism MEC, Alan Winde, said: “While we never want to see airlines stopping their direct route to Cape Town, we understand the pressures of the economic downturn and Eurozone crisis and the challenge of seasonality. We will continue to market Cape Town and the Western Cape in new and emerging markets, as well as our traditional markets, to stretch our season so that airlines have a market to fly here throughout the year.”