After extending the commencement of their Cape Town route six times, Delta Air Lines has eventually decided to completely cancel the route altogether, One Mile at a Time reports.
Before the pandemic, Delta operated their longest flight between Atlanta and Johannesburg, a 13 582 km trek. This flight had its problems pre-pandemic; such a long flight combined with strong headwinds and Johannesburg’s high altitude mean that it is difficult to make money from the route under ideal conditions.
Covid affected the sustainability of this flight, so Delta conjured up a plan to make a triangular route that utilises their transatlantic flight to add Cape Town as another destination.
On Friday 18 June however, Delta filed to amend its frequency allocation to South Africa. According to this filing, Delta intends to fly non-stop between Johannesburg and Atlanta, abandoning its Cape Town Route.
Delta intends to commence its Johannesburg-Atlanta route from 1 August, assuming there are no material changes in travel restrictions imposed by either country.
This comes as another blow to Cape Town’s already struggling tourism industry, which will need all the help it can get to bounce back from the effects of Covid. There is good news on the horizon at least, with United Airlines flying direct from the USA to Cape Town and Virgin Atlantic‘s announcement of recommencing their flights between the UK and South Africa.
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