Cape Town welcomes returning airlines
As British Airways restarts direct flights to Cape Town, the travel industry hopes to save some of the critical 2021 summer tourist season. Before Covid-19, nearly 200,000 Brits visited the Western Cape every year, spending an average R24,000 each. With SA off the red list, the province wants those visitors - and their money - back.
Shortly before their British Airways (BA) flight touched down in Cape Town on Wednesday morning, the pilot told passengers not to be alarmed at the sight of emergency vehicles waiting at the side of the runway. Fire engines were there, the pilot told bemused passengers, to welcome the airline’s first direct flight to the Mother City from London in almost a year.
“Twenty minutes before landing the pilot told us this was the first direct flight to Cape Town and that we would be greeted by emergency vehicles,” passenger Mike ’t Sas-Rolfes told TimesLIVE. “There were two fire engines on either side and fire crews were waving at us while we taxied. There was great spirit on board and when we landed. It was kind of fun.”
Airport staff had hoisted a banner inside the airport building to welcome the arriving passengers. Immigration procedures for SA travellers had been speeded up after the installation of electronic passport readers. However, Sas-Rolfes noted the airport was quiet even though it was 9am. “We were the only arriving international flight,” he said.
While BA has been operating flights between Johannesburg and London, its services to Cape Town and Durban were dropped in December 2020 after the UK imposed a ban on travel and flights from SA.
The ban followed the discovery of the highly transmissible Beta coronavirus variant.
BA’s decision to restart the route comes just weeks after the UK removed SA from its “red list” of Covid-19 affected countries. The airline announced in early October that it would restart daily flights. “Following the welcome news that a significant number of countries have been removed from the UK government’s red list, BA is resuming services and increasing frequencies to a number of destinations,” it said.
The restart has been widely seen as critical to saving Cape Town’s 2021 summer tourist season, which is heavily dependent on UK travellers. Western Cape MEC for finance and economic opportunities David Maynier noted last month that the UK remains one of SA’s most important tourist countries.
About 194,900 UK tourists visited the Western Cape in 2019, spending on average R24,200 per tourist. A number of other airlines have also returned to Cape Town in recent weeks, including Lufthansa on November 1 with direct flights from Munich on November 1 and Air France on October 31.
Heavyweight US carrier United was due to begin services to Cape Town on December 1.
Meanwhile, as airlines claw their way back into the sky, some carriers are taking the opportunity to fix other problems that affect the industry.
