2017-07-07
Wesgro is proud to announce that Cape Town Air Access has helped secure the return of Austrian Airways' direct route from Vienna to Cape Town.
This new Boeing 777 route is Cape Town Air Access’ tenth in just under two years and will operate twice a week from October 2018.
Austrian Airlines CCO Andreas Otto said in a statement, “Cape Town represents an expansion of our offering to long-haul tourist destinations in the winter.”
Cape Town Air Access is a partnership between Wesgro, the City of Cape Town, the Western Cape Government, Airports Company of South Africa, Cape Town Tourism and now South African Tourism, and is the focal point for international air route development in the Western Cape.
“The landing of yet another direct flight to Cape Town is a major boost in our efforts to connect more flights to Cape Town. The addition of this flight is proof that our Air Access strategy and the team are positioning Cape Town as a globally competitive business destination. We look forward to welcoming more tourists and business travellers from Austria,” said City of Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille.
Alan Winde, Minister of Economic Opportunities, said: “Securing a direct route between Cape Town and Austria is yet another exciting achievement for our Cape Town Air Access initiative. I am confident this route will play an important role in increasing tourists to our region. The Air Access team’s success to date have resulted in a R3 billion boost to our economy. Project Khulisa has the target of increasing jobs in tourism by 100 000, and we are making steady progress, with jobs growing by 50 000 since 2014. Improved air access is helping to drive this growth. Cape Town International Airport (CTIA), which is at the frontline of welcoming travellers to our destination, is an important partner in this regard.”
Since its launch in 2015 Cape Town Air Access has landed ten new routes and facilitated ten route expansions for the Cape. This has increased CTIA’s capacity by over 600 000 seats which last year helped the airport reach the 10 million passenger per year mark for the first time.
This increased air access will also make a significant impact on jobs and growth as 3 000 jobs are supported by each regularly scheduled long-haul flight, and for every 10% increase in passenger numbers the regional economy grows by 2%.