Dr André Schulz, Lufthansa General Manager for Southern Africa, speaking at a media briefing in Cape Town, says the city will now boast services to both Lufthansa Hubs, Munich & Frankfurt.
The new route will start 2 December 2016, with the long-term view to make the route permanent, according to Schulz, complimenting the year-round daily flights from Johannesburg. Added to this, Edelweiss the Swiss Leisure carrier is expected to continue seasonal flights to Zurich.
Flights will depart from Frankfurt every Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday - with bookings available immediately for these flights from Friday, 27 May 2016, either through the Lufthansa website or through travel agents.
Tourist arrivals to South Africa in 2016 are already on the up and up as the department of tourism just announced an 18.7%, with Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom cautioning that Easter in March would have had an impact - but the seasonal flights increases will bode well for tourism as a whole.
According to the latest StatSA figures released for the first quarter of 2016, 36 759 visitors from Germany came to SA in for the first quarter, while a comparison between movements in March 2015 and March 2016 shows that the number of tourists increased for seven of the ten leading overseas markets into the country - these being China, Belgium, USA, UK, India, France and Germany.
'Night service to off best possible options to access connections'
Schulz says the flight will operate as a night service with Lufthansa choosing the departure and arrival times carefully to offer travellers the "Best possible options to access connections to the entire Lufthansa route network.”
Flight LH576 leaves Lufthansa's Frankfurt hub at 22:10 and arrives in Cape Town the following morning at 11:00. The return journey departs from Cape Town in the early evening at 18:30 and touches down in Frankfurt the following morning at 05:30, where passengers can access Lufthansa’s entire flight program from its main hub. In total, the Lufthansa Group serves 316 destinations in 101 countries from its hubs in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
Lufthansa currently operates a year-round daily flight between Frankfurt and Johannesburg with the Boeing 747-8, the next generation of the iconic Jumbo jet, the longest passenger aircraft in the world. In addition, Swiss International Airlines serves Johannesburg from its Zurich base, offering a daily service with an Airbus A340-300.
“After Johannesburg, Cape Town is one of the most important markets for the Lufthansa Group in Southern Africa and the new gateway will offer our customers access to some 200 destinations from the Frankfurt hub. It also unlocks new tourism opportunities for those coming in from Germany by offering attractive combination options to other destinations in Southern Africa through our Star Alliance partners," says Schulz.
The Cape Town route will be served by a newly retrofitted Airbus A340-300, which boasts over 279 seats and offers the new Intercontinental Business Class (30), new Premium Economy (28) Class and Economy Class (221).
“South Africa remains one of our most important markets in sub-Saharan Africa and a key destination for German as well as other European visitors. We are thrilled to continue building bridges between the Lufthansa Group and the South African tourist industry, says Claus Becker, Director of Sales, sub Saharan Africa.
Added to this, Lufthansa said it would be looking to have a competitive outbound offering for South Africa headed to Frankfurt. "Germany’s central position in Europe makes it an excellent point of departure for business or leisure trips, from the largest Star Alliance hub in Europe,” he added.
In addition to the new SA flight route, the airline is looking to added capacity to its current three flights in Nairobi, Kenya increasing it to four flights a week from 1 September 2016.
Earlier in May, Lufthansa's low-cost carrier EuroWings also launched non-stop flight to the popular holiday destination of Mauritius. Eurowings, which was launched in the beginning of March 2015, will offer year round service from Cologne to Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport during the European Summer and Winter Seasons. With the arrival of Swiss leisure carrier Edelweiss in October, Lufthansa will serve Mauritius with four brands from Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
Locally, the Western Cape area’s tourism industry is ecstatic about Lufthansa’s additional frequencies into the region.
“This new Lufthansa route will have a positive impact on business and tourism in the Cape,” says Tim Harris, CEO of Wesgro, the official tourism, trade and investment promotion agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape.
“Germany is a priority market as our third-largest source of foreign direct investment, and the third biggest buyer of our products outside of Africa." Cape Town Air Access, a division of Wesgro says it is "actively working on making the direct Frankfurt - Cape Town route a success through publicity, market awareness, and networking opportunities".
“German tourist arrivals are growing rapidly, so we are very pleased that Lufthansa added Frankfurt to their existing seasonal direct daily Munich service. With this additional capacity we expect that Cape Town International Airport will easily reach the 10 million passenger milestone this year”.
Another recent addition as part of the direct route access to Cape Town includes British Airways' direct flights between Cape Town and Gatwick, set to start 24 November. Added to this British Airways has added two more flights to its already expanded Cape Town summer schedule, bringing the number of summer flights between Cape Town International and Heathrow Airport to 19 per week.
Deon Cloete, the General Manager of Cape Town International Airport, also welcomed the announcement. “This additional service from Lufthansa is not only good news for the airport or the region, but particularly for those who need a directly flight to Frankfurt. We value the partnership and the ongoing commitment Lufthansa has made in growing their service and thereby providing connectivity to the rest of the world. This is a huge vote of confidence in our city and we look forward to the continued partnership.”
Flight schedule (all times are local times;winter time) for FRA - CPT 3 times a week
- Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, from 02.12.2016
- LH576: FRA 22:10 – 11:00 +1 CPT
- LH577: CPT 18:30 – 05:30 +1 FRA
Flight duration: (on average) 11 hours 50 minutes
Distance: 9 401 km (5 076 nautical miles)
Aircraft type: Airbus A340-300 (30 Business Class; 28 Premium Economy; 221 Economy Class)
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