Cape Town Airport traffic taking off

THE Cape Town International Airport terminal has recorded the highest recovery rate since international travel resumed, a new report has found.

The Air Route Network Update by Cape Town Air Access (CTAA), an air-route development project within Wesgro which is responsible for establishing direct flights, recorded a 21% passenger recovery rate for the first three weeks of August compared to the same period in 2019, while international airline capacity reached the 50% recovery mark for the first time since the resumption of international services in October last year.

International Airlines that have recently resumed services to Cape Town include Singapore Airlines, at twice a week from July 1 this year, and Emirates, at three times a week from August 12.

British Airways intends to return to the City from November 1 with a planned daily service between Cape Town and London Heathrow, while on the domestic front FlyCemair will introduce a daily service from September 1 between Cape Town and Hoedspruit.

When it comes to domestic terminal performance between August 1 and 21 there was material improvement when compared to the decline experienced in July.

Wesgro’s acting chief executive Yaw Peprah said: “The Cape Town Air Access team is in constant contact with all airline partners and we are confident that the attractiveness of Cape Town and the Western Cape as a summer holiday destination combined with the willingness shown by airlines to return to Cape Town will ignite the tourism recovery in the province.”