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NELSPRUIT– The first chartered planeload of European tourists could be touching down at Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (KMIA) during this year.

At least that is the hope of airport manager Sisa Tanda. Negotiations are in an advanced stage with a major UK charter company to fly once a week to KMIA.



Gaining the charter airline is one of three key aims on Tanda’s business wish list for 2007. The others include enticing a low-cost airline into a long-term arrangement and increasing the amount of cargo traffic.

After doubling profitability in the past year, the seasoned Tanda is working hard to coordinate consultants, agents, route developers and operators to further the master plan for the future.

Most of the income is derived from people travelling through and using the services at the airport.

“Our short-term objectives include the development of the charter airlines business,” Tanda said. “By the end of this year we expect to have weekly charter flights and once one operator starts, it will have a snowball effect.

“We have learned through studies that the two main places in South Africa that foreign tourists want to visit during a 14-day stay, are Cape Town and the Kruger National Park. We want to make their travel arrangements as comfortable and direct as we can.

“We are slightly restricted by national requirements and bilateral aviation arrangements which means using Johannesburg’s OR Tambo Airport as the point of entry,” said Tanda. He is also cognisant of the desire of domestic fliers to have more choice of internal operators– especially a no-frills, low-price airline.

The third arrow in Tanda’s quiver is reserved for the cargo market, which he sees as a key economic growth factor for the region’s future and long-term development of the airport.

Labels: airlines, mpumalanga, nelspruit, southern kruger, travel

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.

Labels: airlines, travel