A Turkish Airlines passenger plane sits on the tarmac at Tegel airport, operated by Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH, in Berlin, Germany, on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013. Air France-KLM Group and Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Europe's two biggest airlines, are struggling to reach earnings goals as a stronger euro and sluggish economic growth wipe out the benefits of sweeping savings programs. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg A Turkish Airlines passenger plane sits on the tarmac at Tegel airport, operated by Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH, in Berlin, Germany, on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013. Air France-KLM Group and Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Europe's two biggest airlines, are struggling to reach earnings goals as a stronger euro and sluggish economic growth wipe out the benefits of sweeping savings programs. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg
Sechaba ka’Nkosi
TURKISH Airlines has announced that it will be launching a direct flight between Cape Town and Istanbul in October as part of its expansion strategy on the continent.
The airliner said there was increasing demand for direct flights between Turkey and South Africa as more tourists wanted to visit the continent.
Turkish Airlines’s general manger for its Cape Town branch, Zafer Bolukbasi, said the city’s growing reputation as a top tourism destination and its ability to attract the influx of international travellers necessitated the move.
“We are confident that the direct flight will be addressing a growing need among international travellers to fly directly to Cape Town, as well as enabling local Cape Town travellers to reach Europe without any stopovers,” Bolukbasi said.
“While Johannesburg remains the corporate hub of the country, the ‘mother city’ is fast becoming a renowned destination for international travellers, recently rated as the best city in the world by the 2014 Telegraph Travel Awards.”
The airliner’s move comes after travel warnings in the wake of xenophobic attacks that have resulted in the cancellations of tourist bookings, particularly in Durban.
Yesterday China, South Africa’s biggest trading partner, issued a warning on its website.
“Residents intending to visit the country or who are already there should monitor the situation, exercise caution, attend to personal safety and avoid protests and large gatherings of people,” the advisory said.
Last year Cape Town signed a co-operation and cultural exchange agreement with the Turkish city of Izmir, the country’s third most populous city after Istanbul and Ankara.
At the time mayor Patricia de Lille said the city was looking at new tourist markets. Cape Town’s industrial performance report claimed almost 54 percent of annual arrivals at Cape Town International Airport were international travellers.
Bolukbasi said Turkish Airlines wanted to take advantage of the growing travel potential of both the country and the continent in general.
He said international passenger arrivals at Cape Town International Airport had increased by almost 8 percent last year compared with 2013. Bolukbasi said the daily plane between the two cities would have the capacity for 228 economy and 22 business class travellers.
“We want to increase our footprint in South Africa because we see a lot of potential for both countries in terms of tourism and cultural exchanges,” he said.
“We believe that there is a lot of potential that both countries can tap in as South Africans who travel to Turkey can obtain a hassle free visa.”
Bolukbasi said the Turkish Airlines would use the daily airline to introduce South Africans to the country’s culture and food.
“We hope that the daily, direct flight between Cape Town and Istanbul will increase international leisure and business travellers to both cities.”