British Airways increases CPT - London flights
In a boost for air access, British Airways has increased its direct flights between London and Cape Town.
Alan Winde, Minister of Economic Opportunities, welcomed the news that British Airways has added two more flights to its summer schedule.
British Airways has added two more Cape Town/ Heathrow services from 1 January to 9 January 2017 and 3 February to 27 February. This means there will be 16 weekly Boeing 747-400 flights between Cape Town and London and three Boeing 777-400 Gatwick services.
“This is a great boost for tourism to our destination. Through Project Khulisa, we have prioritised air access; we know we have to make it easier for visitors to travel to our region. This is why we launched the Cape Town Air Access initiative, which is a partnership between government, Airports Company South Africa, Wesgro and airline industries.
Through this initiative, we are seeking to secure additional direct flights to a set of strategic destinations across the world. We know that improving accessibility to our region through more direct flights is crucial to growing jobs,” said Minister Winde.
In a statement, British Airways explained the decision to add the flights.
“The capacity increase is in response to demand on the route, which in no small part is due to the excellent job that’s being done to market Cape Town and position it as a top international leisure destination,” said Edward Frost, British Airways commercial manager for South and East Africa.
The airline normally increases its daily Cape Town/ Heathrow schedule to a double-daily service over the busy southern hemisphere summer. In March it announced that it would be adding three more flights from Gatwick to Cape Town commencing 24 November 2016.
British Airways is the only carrier to serve Cape Town directly from London year round and during the summer peaks will now offer over 6 000 seats a week on the route.
For media queries, kindly contact:
Bronwynne Jooste
Tel: 021 483 3550
Cell: 060 970 4301
E-mail: bronwynne.jooste@westerncape.gov.za
