The Cape Town Air Access initiative – an air-route development project that establishes direct flights from the Western Cape to the rest of the world – recently welcomed two new connections from Southern Africa. Eswatini Air, which will operate a direct flight between Cape Town and the Kingdom of Eswatini, and Proflight Zambia, which will start its operations from Lusaka on 1 July.
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A total of six African carriers have been added to Cape Town and the Western Cape’s international air network since 2015, linking the province to 11 countries and 15 destinations across Africa.
Mireille Wenger, Western Cape minister of finance and economic opportunities, says that more connections such as these mean more tourists, which could create more employment opportunities in the Western Cape. ‘I am so pleased that we have secured two more direct routes to Cape Town International Airport, especially since these new routes make it much easier to travel within Southern Africa. The benefits of these two new routes to Eswatini and Lusaka, Zambia, go beyond tourism and may open up more opportunities for trade and investments too.’
Wesgro, the official tourism, trade and investment promotion agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape, reports that air passenger traffic increased by 80% between 2021 and 2022. Namibia, Zimbabwe and Botswana were the top three countries for two-way passengers in 2022, while Lagos (Nigeria) and Lusaka (Zambia) were the top two unserved African destinations.
‘Since 2015, the Cape Town Air Access initiative has produced excellent results when it comes to creating new routes and growing the number of people coming into the Western Cape,’ says Wrenelle Stander, Wesgro CEO and the official spokesperson for Cape Town Air Access. ‘In doing so, the initiative has also played a significant role in developing trade relations and growing tourism in the destination as air connectivity is key to unlocking a country’s economic growth potential. With the addition of the direct Eswatini Air and Proflight Zambia services, the province will be connected to 15 destinations across sub-Sahara Africa by July 2023.’
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