British Airways (BA) is to increase its London-to-Cape Town schedule by an additional two flights a week this summer to offer a total of 12 weekly services to the Mother City.
The additional flights will boost much sought-after capacity on the popular route by almost 12 000 seats over the peak summer period.
The move comes in the wake of an additional 27 000 seats the British carrier provided for the winter season by operating Boeing 747-700 aircraft rather than the smaller 777s it normally uses during the Cape’s green season. Many of these flights were fully booked.
“We expected to have to introduce some sort of special offer in the worst of the trough in mid-June and early July, but the flights have been so full, we simply couldn’t risk creating demand that we couldn’t meet,” explained BA’s general manager for Southern Africa, Charles Forsyth.
“It was something of a gamble to put on the large aircraft, but the work we have done with the local tourism authorities to stimulate off-peak demand made it a calculated gamble and one we will certainly look at repeating next winter,” said Forsyth.
“The increase in winter travel is good news for us and great news for Cape Town.
“More importantly, it should result in more year-round jobs in the tourism and entertainment sector and hopefully limit seasonal pricing, as businesses won’t be as reliant on the summer trade to see them through the winter period.”