The global pandemic may have halted several industries in Western Cape in 2021 after COVID-19 cases spread like a wildfire, leaving thousands of Capetonians jobless.
However, the City of Cape Town (COCT) says it’s positive that the metro’s trade and travel-related industries are set for regrowth after the most recent passenger arrival figures from Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) painted a positive picture.
According to the COCT, these huge numbers were largely driven by domestic travellers of whom 733 207 made their way to the Mother City in the three-month period. The COCT says the last two weeks of December, the average number of daily passengers at CTIA increased to 20 339 and flight movements rose to 184 per day.
The City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth, James Vos indicated that the figures certainly would have been much higher had international governments not slapped travel restrictions on South Africa and indeed, as many of them began to stop their bans, flight bookings began to climb, data from the International Air Transport Association shows.
“This latest information underscores the value of aviation to travel and trade in the metro. Every air traveller that lands in Cape Town help to support our economy and create more jobs,” Vos said.
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Vos further mentioned that in 2019, the airport also contributed just under R14 billion to Cape Town and created over 28 000 jobs, the same as in 2017 when the industry coughed up around 9.4 billion US dollars into the country’s GDP.
“In this plan, we will prioritise the Air Access initiative and programmes focused on boosting Cape Town’s access to key source markets, which would allow for more exports of Mother City-made goods to the world,” Vos explained.
Meanwhile, Air Access, which is facilitated by Wesgro and receives funding from the City, is tasked with promoting, developing and maintaining national and international air routes to and from Cape Town International Airport.
The initiative has helped to drive passenger and cargo air traffic to Cape Town. Prior to the pandemic, Air Access helped to establish 19 new routes and 23 route expansions and added 1,5 million passenger seats. International air cargo volumes through CTIA also experienced a 10% compound annual growth rate between 2015 and 2019.
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