Delta Air Lines will begin offering a long-awaited international air service connecting Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa, to Atlanta, US.
Delta Air Lines will begin offering a long-awaited international air service connecting Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa, to Atlanta, US.
It will launch a triangular service between the three destinations on December 2.
The Atlanta carrier filed plans over the weekend to commence service from Atlanta to Johannesburg and Cape Town.
The airline says the route will operate four times a week.
“As demand for travel increases, we’ll be offering our largest-ever schedule between South Africa and the US this summer,” said Jimmy Eichelgruen, Delta’s director of sales for Africa, Middle East and India.
“Thanks to this added connectivity, customers will have access to more than 160 cities in North and South America, giving people even more opportunity to reconnect or expand business ties between our two countries, which US Government data estimated to be worth $17.8 billion (about R310bn) in 2019.
The service will operate on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays through at least March 25, 2023.
The route will be flown on an Airbus A350, which will begin the route by departing Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
From there, it will traverse the Atlantic Ocean and arrive at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport. It will then refuel and depart for Cape Town International Airport before returning to Atlanta, says the airline.
Delta attempted to launch an Atlanta-Johannesburg-Cape Town-Atlanta triangular route in 2020 and again in 2021 but failed to secure the green light from South Africa’s government.
However, regulators finally approved the plans earlier this year, paving the way for the Chicago carrier to enter the market, reports Routes Online.
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