South Africa and the US are exploring an increase in air service frequencies between the two countries.
Collen Msibi, National Spokesperson for the Department of Transport, told Travel News that South Africa and the US have expressed mutual interest in increasing the current allowance of 23 weekly frequencies.
“A technical meeting to explore the modalities of implementation is scheduled in the second week of November,” he said.
However, the department has not yet confirmed how many additional frequencies are being considered, which airlines are involved or when any increase could take effect.
United Airlines and Delta Air Lines are currently the only two airlines operating non-stop flights between the two countries.
Delta Air Lines operates daily non-stop flights between Johannesburg and Atlanta and three weekly flights between Cape Town and Atlanta. When Delta executives visited South Africa in June this year, they called for additional air connectivity between the two countries, arguing that the current cap on frequencies no longer reflects the growing demand.
David Werner, Managing Director: International and Regulatory Affairs for Delta Air Lines, said strong growth in tourism and business travel between the two countries points to an opportunity to revisit existing air service arrangements.
“Against that backdrop, the fact that there are no additional available routes right now between the countries is significant. All of them are being used. It suggests that it’s time for us to maybe revisit the topic of route frequencies to meet the needs of a market that has grown materially in the past two decades,” said Werner.
“We are very interested in continuing to grow our presence here in South Africa and exploring opportunities to further strengthen connectivity between our countries over time. We say all this out of great respect and a spirit of partnership. We understand that any increase in frequencies requires engagement and approval from appropriate governments and analysts and we welcome that dialogue.”
United Airlines currently operates daily non-stop flights between Johannesburg and Newark/New York as well as three weekly services from Cape Town to New York/Newark and from Cape Town to Washington DC.
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