It seems times are tough out there with South African Airways deciding to suspend it’s Cape Town to London Heathrow route from the 15th August 2012.
The route currently operated with an Airbus A330 is to suspended, with passengers rebooked on services via its hub in Johannesburg.
South African Airways is quick to point out the route is not profitable, but also cites other reasons for the withdrawal – some of these are surprising… others less so:
- Connections for traffic have slumped due to BMI leaving Star Alliance (as they were a feeder to South African Airways flights)
- Visa fees are rocketing for Transit Passengers and visitors to the UK for South African Nationals
- The old bogey of “Air Passenger Duty”, which has a nasty effect to any plane ticket, adding £81 for Economy, £162 for Premium Cabins.
- And finally – stronger competition with competitors dumping capacity like it’s going out of business. In particular South African Airways states “airlines based in oil producing states”. – No prizes for guessing who they could be referring to at all.
- In addition, other EU carriers offering a short haul stop and a long haul flight have made a dent.
Aircraft that had been assigned for the CPT-LHR run will be redeployed for better operational utilisation to Accra, Mumbai and Perth (Australia).
As usual, if you’re booked on this route, check you’ve been rebooked appropriately or as needed.
That’s a shame. I took that flight in March and really enjoyed it. The crew were lovely and the hard product seemed nicer than CPT-FRA.
Yes I agree. This is not a very clever longterm decision. If SAA is a Government supported service then you would expect them to protect en increase tourism even if it costs.