BOOKINGS have opened
for Lufthansa’s new
thrice-weekly seasonal
service between Frankfurt
and Cape Town, which takes
off on December 2.
Making the announcement
in Cape Town on May 27,
André Schulz, Lufthansa’s
gm for Southern Africa, said
the airline was hoping to
eventually extend the service
year-round. He said Cape
Town was one of the hottest
destinations for German
tourists and the airline was
experiencing increasing
demand for services to
the city. He said the new
service would also unlock
new tourism opportunities for
those coming from Germany
by offering combination
options to other destinations
in Southern Africa through
Lufthansa’s Star Alliance
partners.
The airline was also
confident it would be able to
grow the outbound market
as well, with Frankfurt
being a major connecting
hub in Europe to more
than 200 destinations
worldwide, said Tal Muscal,
head of Lufthansa Group
Communications. He said
the outbound service would
be competitively priced.
André said the new
service would complement
Lufthansa’s existing
seasonal daily service
between Munich and Cape
Town and the two flights a
week operated from Zürich
by SWISS leisure carrier,
Edelweiss. Lufthansa also
operates daily services
year-round from Frankfurt to
Johannesburg.
The FRA-CPT route will
be served with a newly
retrofitted A340-300 with
279 seats, offering 30 seats
in the new business class,
28 seats in the new premium
economy and 221 seats
in economy. Flight LH576
will leave FRA at 22h10 to
arrive in CPT at 11h00 the
following morning. Flights
from CPT will depart at
18h30 and arrive at 05h30
in FRA, well timed for onward
connections on the entire
Lufthansa route network.
The Western Cape tourism
industry has welcomed the
additional Lufthansa service.
Wesgro ceo, Tim Harris,
believed it would have a
positive impact on tourism,
trade and investment in
the province. “Germany
is our third-largest foreign
direct investment market
and our third-largest export
market outside Africa. With
this additional capacity,
we expect that Cape Town
International Airport will
reach the 10m passenger
milestone this year,” he
said.
