US giant Delta Air Lines launched a new service between Cape Town, Johannesburg and Atlanta on Saturday, 3 December. The new triangular route will fly between the three cities four times a week.

Delta has offered direct flights between Atlanta and Johannesburg since 2016, but from 18 December it will be expanding its direct service with three weekly direct flights between Atlanta and Cape Town.

This week, Stats SA published the latest tourism and migration data, indicating that in October 2022, most visitors to SA came from the United Kingdom (26,928 or 17%) and the US (23,090 or 15.3%).

Last year, the US became SA’s number one overseas market for trade and tourism, and for 2022 year-to-date, it was Cape Town’s second-largest passenger market, with two-way passenger volumes reaching 105,000. 

Wesgro says as at September 2022, the top source market to Cape Town (via air) was the UK, followed by the US, Germany, the Netherlands and France. In the first nine months of 2022, Cape Town also held the largest (52%) share of German tourist arrivals in South Africa

Delta Air Lines is the world’s largest by revenue, asset value and market capitalisation, employing more than 80,000 staff. The world’s third-largest by revenue, United Airlines has operated year-round services between New York and Johannesburg since June 2021. Two weeks ago, it launched a new all-year service between Washington DC and Cape Town.

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Paul Hassenstab, Delta’s director of sales for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India (EMEAI), said they had seen tremendous demand for flights to South Africa, which was the reason they opened a second gateway to the country through Cape Town.

“In just a year we have increased capacity to South Africa by a staggering 67%, contributing to the recovery of the tourism sector in Cape Town and the region overall as we reaffirm the strong business ties between our two countries.”

Delta has received numerous accolades, including being declared the world’s number one airline by Business Travel News for the 12th consecutive year and one of Fortune’s most admired companies to work for.

Hassenstab said that at the end of 2021, Delta was the first major US airline to return to profitability, and it is set to post a profit again this year despite recent economic headwinds.

‘Growth continues’

As the travel industry recovery continues, we are growing our network to operate more than 275 destinations on six continents. This growth is continuing: next year, Delta will offer its largest ever transatlantic schedule, offering nearly 620 weekly flights to 11 US airports from 32 cities in EMEAI.”

He said the airline sector had seen extremely strong demand for travel between SA and the US. Post-Covid aspirational travel had changed historical travel patterns. “Americans are now craving adventure and going further afield.”

SA, he said, should expect strong growth in terms of US visitors for both leisure and for business. Last year, US tourists spent more than R2.3- billion in SA, on even lower airline capacity, and there are strong expectations that this year’s revenue could be even higher.

Over the past decade, trade between the Western Cape and the US has increased by more than 11%, with total trade valued at more than R23-billion in 2021.

There are about 600 US businesses operating in South Africa, many of which use SA as headquarters for their Africa operations.

Wrenelle Stander, Wesgro CEO and spokesperson for Cape Town Air Access said, “This market’s outstanding performance owes a lot to airlines such as Delta for their commitment to the destination. We are extremely excited about these two new routes as they will continue to boost tourism, economic relations and business opportunities between Cape Town and the United States.”

The service also provides cargo opportunities for freight forwarders to transport goods between the countries, including fruit, vegetables and fish, as well as machine and vehicle parts. DM/BM