Cape Town is growing in popularity with US visitors, with Delta intending to start ATL/JNB/CPT linked flights from October 24.

The carrier plans to add a Cape Town stop to its Johannesburg-Atlanta route and has applied to operate a triangular routing (Atlanta-Johannesburg-Cape Town-Atlanta) using a 306-seat Airbus A350-900. Delta has requested authority for a year-round service with seasonal flexibility “to tailor capacity to demand”.

The commencement will, obviously depend on the lifting of travel restrictions imposed by either country due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Jimmy Eichelgruen, Delta’s Director of Sales for Africa, Middle East and India, told Tourism Update that the airline was reviewing its network in South Africa following the announcement that it would retire its Boeing 777 fleet, which operated its non-stop Atlanta-Johannesburg route.

United last year reported a successful winter season 2019 with its Cape Town to Newark service, and told Tourism Update that it would be repeating it in 2020/2021. It is scheduled to resume seasonal operations from the US on October 25 (EWR-CPT) and from South Africa on October 26 (CPT-EWR), said Gudrun Gorner, United’s PR Manager.