Cape Town - Lufthansa became the latest international airline to announce increased direct flights to Cape Town.
On Thursday Tamur Goudarzi-Pour, vice president sales and services Middle East, Africa and Southeast Europe, announced at a briefing in Cape Town that the airline will be increasing its direct flights between Cape Town and Munich from five weekly flights to a daily non-stop service during the South African summer months, starting in October.
The Swiss airline Edelweiss Air, also part of the Lufthansa Group, is also due to start its direct flights between Cape Town and Zurich for the South African summer season - the fifth year running it will be doing so. The airline will offer two flights per week from late October until late March 2016.
Dr Andre Schulz, Lufthansa’s new general manager for South Africa said the demand for Cape Town as a top leisure destination is the reason for adding two additional flights during South Africa’s summer season.
Goudarzi-Pour also announced at the briefing that Lufthansa will be using the Boeing 747-8 from now on for its direct flights between Frankfurt and Johannesburg. He explained that this aircraft will provide better for the greater premium travel demand on the route, while still being able to offer value for money for economy class.
CEO of Cape Town Tourism, Enver Duminy said in reaction to the Lufthansa announcement that this is good news for the Mother City.
"Lufthansa and Edelweiss continue to enable travel to Cape Town by some of the city’s top source markets. With the addition of flights to the country by Lufthansa’s Boeing 747-8, we expect a lot more visitors to our shores this season,” said Duminy.