Increase in Edelweiss Air flights show European appetite for Cape Town

Pasy via pixabay

A 7% growth in passengers between Switzerland and Cape Town (both ways) has been recorded between January and March 2018 compared to that of 2017. Acknowledging the importance of direct air access to the city and province, Harris added: "Making it easier for more people to visit the Cape by air, provides a big boost towards growing tourism and encouraging investment - which ultimately boosts our economy and more importantly, facilitates job creation."

Since its inception, the Cape Town Air Access initiative has helped land 13 direct routes and 15 route expansions. This is estimated to have added R4.2bn to the provincial economy in direct tourism spending.

The Executive Mayor of the City of Cape Town, Patricia de Lille said: “This is excellent news and demonstrates the great appetite amongst European travellers to visit Cape Town. What excites me most about enhancing air access and growing the number of direct flights between Cape Town and other cities is that apart from the great tourism travel benefits, these direct flights also makes it easy for businesses and investors to connect to our region. By improving air connectivity, we are making it easier to do business in Cape Town in line with our goals to grow the economy and create more jobs.”

Minister Alan Winde said: “The inclusion of an additional weekly flight between Zurich and Cape Town is a reflection of the positive sentiment of the airline towards the city and our province. We welcome this addition, which will help to grow tourism and create important jobs in this sector in line with our Project Khulisa plans.”