Air routes between the United States and South Africa are slowly reopening as Delta Air Lines’ application to fly a triangular routing between Atlanta and Cape Town – via Johannesburg – was recently approved by South Africa’s Transport and Tourism ministry from Autumn 2022.
As the world is once again looming out of the pandemic and is on a steady road to recovery, the U.S based carrier had sought approval from the South African authorities to reintroduce its services between the United States and South Africa.
Cape Town, South Africa’s tourist hotspot and one destination sought out by competing U.S carriers has been marred by controversy over an application by Delta Air Lines for flights to Cape Town as part of a triangular route between Atlanta and Johannesburg.
Western Cape Government whose tourism sector has been embattled by the effects of covid-19 in recent years, engaged with the South Africa Department of Transport over this issue on several occasions.
“We regard the approval of Delta Air Lines’ application to fly a triangular route between Atlanta, Johannesburg, and Cape Town as a big win and we will continue to work hard to expand ‘air access’ because more flights mean more tourists and more tourists means more jobs in the Western Cape,” said David Maynier, the provincial minister of finance and economic opportunities, on Tuesday.
“We remain committed to increasing investment, expanding trade, and scaling up tourism with the United States, and so we look forward to finally welcoming Delta Air Lines to the Western Cape.”
Maynier added that Delta’s approval came after “extensive correspondence and an intergovernmental dispute process” initiated by the Western Cape government.
James Vos, mayoral committee member for economic growth and tourism at the City of Cape Town, welcomed the news by saying, “Cape Town’s economy has been given a big boost with the news of the US’ Delta Air Lines finally getting the go-ahead from the South African government to fly a triangular route between Atlanta, Johannesburg, and Cape Town,” he said.
Delta last served Cape Town in 2009 and tried to launch an Atlanta-Johannesburg-Cape Town-Atlanta triangle service in 2020 and 2021 but failed to secure the green light from South Africa’s government.
A regulatory stalemate blamed on the South African government over its unwillingness to amend the airline’s Foreign Operator’s Permit, led Delta to “abandon” its previous bid.
After fierce criticism from the Western Cape government, pointing out that Americans were South Africa’s largest tourist group in 2021, the Atlanta-based airline lodged a new application for nonstop flights between Atlanta and Cape Town in February.
A month later, United Airlines applied for flights between Washington DC and Cape Town, scheduled to start in November which resulted in a tit-for-tat war of words between the two American airlines.
