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Delta, the only US airline to fly to South Africa, has experienced such a strong market for its daily flights it will introduce flagship new aircraft. Bucking the trend of falling passenger numbers, Delta’s regional manager for southern Africa, Jimmy Eichelgruen, said on Tuesday the airline intended to introduce a new fleet of Boeing 777 Extended Range airctaft in June 2009 so Delta could be the only US airline to fly non-stop between Johannesburg and the US.
Eichelgruen said that until recently, passenger loads to and from South Africa had been more than 80 percent and, although there had been a slight dip in passenger numbers, "this was not really a surprise given the state of the market". Delta was cutting capacity on many other routes, he said, but there were no plans to do so either to Johannesburg or Cape Town.
Until three years ago SAA was the only airline offering direct flights between the two countries and carried Delta passengers under codeshare arrangements until it joined the Star Alliance of international airlines. It was then persuaded to break off the codeshare with Delta – its most successful arrangement – in favour of Star Alliance partner United Airlines and to substitute the United hub airport of Washington for Atlanta.
Delta used the knowledge of the local market it had acquired through the codeshare to launch its own route between Johannesburg and Atlanta in 2006, followed in 2008 by the launch of three flights a week connecting Cape Town to New York. Eichelgruen said Delta was timing its flights between New York and Nairobi to allow passengers to change to Cape Town flights at the refuelling stop in Dakar.
This would stimulate tourism from the US to South Africa by enabling the airline to offer flights serving both southern and east Africa. In line with demand, Delta is also changing the destination served from Cape Town to Atlanta from June 2. Eichelgruen said the southern US states had become a more popular destination for South Africans than New York. Passengers who were flying from Cape Town would be able to change to a New York flight in Dakar.
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