Cape Town - Commencing December 2 2016 Lufthansa German Airlines will extend its direct flight between Frankfurt and Cape Town to year-round.
This follows an announcement made earlier this year that it would offer direct flights between Frankfurt and Cape Town for the seasonal period.
The airline said in a statement on Tuesday that the decision comes in light of the growing importance of the Cape Town–Europe route due to an
increase in interest, particularly from European businesses and leisure travellers.
“Cape Town’s importance and popularity are growing significantly. Following the decision to offer direct flights between Frankfurt and Cape Town earlier this year, the future demand for this route proved to be quite robust, prompting us to increase the schedule to a year-round service,” said Dr André Schulz, Lufthansa general manager for Southern Africa.
Interest in the direct route between Frankfurt and Cape Town came not only from German travellers, but from many of Lufthansa’s customers in Europe who favoured a direct route between the continent and the Mother City.
“If you take into account all the flights coming into South Africa by the airlines owned by the Lufthansa Group - Lufthansa Passenger Airlines,
SWISS (Swiss International Air Lines) and Edelweiss - then the Lufthansa group’s investment into the SA-Europe connection is clear," said Tim Harris, CEO of Wesgro.
"The group transports hundreds of thousands of passengers between South African and the group’s Zurich, Munich, and Frankfurt hubs each year, with the Lufthansa non-stop route between Cape Town and Frankfurt representing a significant number of these travellers.”