Originally Posted by
Shareholder
This has been a mystery to me since I started flying to South Africa at the end of Apartheid. SAA doesn't have a single long haul, "overseas" nonstop flight from/to CPT. It is a shame to see all those foreign airplanes lined up at the international wing of the terminal sucking up this market, and to fly SAA -- the country's flag carrier -- one must connect at JNB! Particularly now that Cape Town is the greater tourist draw and increasingly business centre.
Considering the congestion at JNB throughout the morning as dozens of flights arrive from Europe and other points, clogging the customs hall and taking up at least an hour to be processed, it seems CPT would provide a needed pressure valve. Last time I arrived @
CPT from LHR on BA, I cleared immigration and customs in minutes, and was waiting for the myCiti bus into town in less than 15-minutes from deplaning!
Is there a legitimate reason/rationale for this situation (other than available aircraft)?
Firstly, if you've followed SAA's recent problems, you'll notice how they have been downsizing the operation consistently for a number of years. They are flying a lot less longhaul altogether, nevermind from Cape Town. They've dropped Buenos Aires, Beijing, Mumbai, Abu Dhabi (albeit it was only operated briefly), and before that Zurich and Paris.
Secondly, Cape Town has very limited domestic or regional connections compared to Johannesburg, and combined with a bigger O&D market (primarily business), Johannesburg is a hub, while Cape Town is not. So limited domestic and regional feed makes like difficult for SAA compared to foreign airlines that are primarily feeding into or out of large hubs. It's noticeable that most of the long haul airlines to Cape Town are heavily reliant on their large hubs for feed.