Delta Lands in SA
JOHANNESBURG— Delta Air Lines completed its first flight into Johannesburg from Atlanta today, making it the only US carrier offering a scheduled service between South Africa and the United States.
The only other scheduled routings between South Africa and the US currently are the two routes operated by South African Airways.
These are from Johannesburg to Washington and to New York. SAA's Johannesburg-Washington route includes a stopover in Dakar, as does the Delta route to Atlanta.
Delta's arrival will break SAA's monopoly on this route as well as bringing some welcome competition to flights to America.
The new Delta flight, which will operate daily, forms an integral part of Delta’s expansion into Africa and will significantly improve options for onwards travel options within the US. They also start flights to Nigeria next week.
Flight DL35 departs Johannesburg at 7.35pm daily, stopping in Dakar, Senegal at 3am. It departs Senegal at 4.15am, arriving in Atlanta at 8.50am.
The return flight DL34 departs Atlanta at 4.25pm, arriving in Johannesburg at 4.35pm the following day.
Commenting on the new Delta service, Frank Jahangir, Delta’s Vice President Sales & Affairs for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) said: "This new route will open a corridor of commerce between South Africa and the world's largest airline hub in Atlanta, facilitating travel throughout all 50 states in the US as well as Latin America and the Caribbean."
According to Jahangir, "Atlanta is the business capital of the southern United States, home to the world's largest airline hub and has the seventh-largest population of South African-born residents in the US. With this flight, Delta customers travelling from SA to Atlanta will now have convenient connection opportunities to more than 220 destinations worldwide including key business destinations such as Los Angeles, Washington and Dallas as well as leisure destinations such as Miami, Orlando and Las Vegas."
Speaking about Delta’s maiden flight, Moeketsi Mosola, Chief Executive Officer of South African Tourism said: "As the first major US airline to operate a scheduled service between the United States and South Africa, it is a great pleasure to welcome Delta Air Lines to SA.
“It is encouraging that the fastest-growing international carrier in the US has shown confidence in promoting travel between our countries. From a tourism perspective, the US has always been an important source market for SA— a fact clearly highlighted by this year’s arrivals figures, which have exceeded expectations and shattered previous records.
Teaser fares (no longer available) saw return fares from Atlanta to Johannesburg from around $1,200 (excluding taxes).
Delta will operate the new flights using Boeing 767-300ER aircraft configured to carry 214-passengers with 35 seats in BusinessElite, Delta’s business class.
The only other scheduled routings between South Africa and the US currently are the two routes operated by South African Airways.
These are from Johannesburg to Washington and to New York. SAA's Johannesburg-Washington route includes a stopover in Dakar, as does the Delta route to Atlanta.
Delta's arrival will break SAA's monopoly on this route as well as bringing some welcome competition to flights to America.
The new Delta flight, which will operate daily, forms an integral part of Delta’s expansion into Africa and will significantly improve options for onwards travel options within the US. They also start flights to Nigeria next week.
Flight DL35 departs Johannesburg at 7.35pm daily, stopping in Dakar, Senegal at 3am. It departs Senegal at 4.15am, arriving in Atlanta at 8.50am.
The return flight DL34 departs Atlanta at 4.25pm, arriving in Johannesburg at 4.35pm the following day.
Commenting on the new Delta service, Frank Jahangir, Delta’s Vice President Sales & Affairs for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) said: "This new route will open a corridor of commerce between South Africa and the world's largest airline hub in Atlanta, facilitating travel throughout all 50 states in the US as well as Latin America and the Caribbean."
According to Jahangir, "Atlanta is the business capital of the southern United States, home to the world's largest airline hub and has the seventh-largest population of South African-born residents in the US. With this flight, Delta customers travelling from SA to Atlanta will now have convenient connection opportunities to more than 220 destinations worldwide including key business destinations such as Los Angeles, Washington and Dallas as well as leisure destinations such as Miami, Orlando and Las Vegas."
Speaking about Delta’s maiden flight, Moeketsi Mosola, Chief Executive Officer of South African Tourism said: "As the first major US airline to operate a scheduled service between the United States and South Africa, it is a great pleasure to welcome Delta Air Lines to SA.
“It is encouraging that the fastest-growing international carrier in the US has shown confidence in promoting travel between our countries. From a tourism perspective, the US has always been an important source market for SA— a fact clearly highlighted by this year’s arrivals figures, which have exceeded expectations and shattered previous records.
Teaser fares (no longer available) saw return fares from Atlanta to Johannesburg from around $1,200 (excluding taxes).
Delta will operate the new flights using Boeing 767-300ER aircraft configured to carry 214-passengers with 35 seats in BusinessElite, Delta’s business class.
posted by Kruger2Canyons.com at
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
1 Comments:
From May 2007, South African Airways (SAA) will add a new route to its services. The South African national carrier has announced its intention to fly from Chicago O'Hare International Airport to Johannesburg via Dakar (Senegal). This means that SAA will increase its Dakar services, despite earlier indications that it was scaling them down.
In July, SAA decided to cancel the Dakar stopover on its Washington and New York flights following a shortage of fuel in the Senegalese capital. This was caused by a truckers' strike.
After protests from passengers, SAA however backed down on the plans and instead included an extra refuelling stopover on Cape Verde's island of Sal.
The arrival of Atlanta-based Delta Airways on the 4th of December on this route probably has woken up SAA, which so far has had a monopoly on flights between the US, Senegal and South Africa. Delta Air stops over in Dakar.
The Dakar routes to the US and South Africa have become increasingly popular as the Senegalese market is growing rapidly. Competition may assist in growing the potential market.
SAA's new Chicago-Johannesburg service will operate the new Airbus 340, which is powered by four Rolls Royce Trent Engines.
"Our new Chicago gateway is our commitment to our customers' requests for increased service and further demonstrates that nobody offers more non-stop flights to and throughout Africa than South African Airways" commented SAA spokesperson Mr Cavaliere, promising more "exciting developments" for SAA customers.
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