Operational Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays in both directions, the service will be operated by Air Botswana’s new EMBRAER E-170 jet, which has a seating capacity of 70 passengers and dual class configuration. The aircraft forms part of the upgraded Air Botswana fleet which began in November 2018.
“Cape Town remains a very popular leisure and business destination. We are pleased to be able to reintroduce faster flights to Cape Town with our own Jet aircraft for our customers,” commented Air Botswana General Manager Ms. Agnes Khunwana.
With approximately half of the world’s fastest-growing economies forecast to be located on the African continent, facilitating and expanding flights to the rest of Africa remains a key priority for the Cape Town’s Air Access Project.
Since their inception in 2015, the Air Access initiative has assisted four new African Airlines in bringing their operations to Cape Town, resulting in almost 400 000 two way seats being added to the Cape Town African Network. African destinations accessible directly from Cape Town International now include Addis Ababa, Harare, Kigali, Livingstone, Luanda, Maun, Nairobi, Victoria Falls and as of March, Gaborone.
“According to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) latest World Economic Outlook report, Botswana has been identified as one of the top three biggest economies in Africa. Linking two popular business and tourism destinations creates an abundance of opportunities to increase tourism, trade, investment and air freight between our two cities. We are pleased by the announcement of the resumed flights, helping to further position Cape Town and the Western Cape as the gateway to Africa,” said Wesgro CEO, Tim Harris.
Minister of Economic Opportunities, Beverly Schäfer, said: “Africa is home to some of the fastest-developing economies in the world, with highly mobile citizens looking to travel for both leisure and business purposes. By developing connections between Cape Town and the rest of the continent, the Western Cape is able to create tourism, trade and business partnerships that will help to grow our economy and create jobs. We are pleased to re-establish the direct connection between Cape Town and Gaborone, which will enable travellers from both South Africa and Botswana to benefit from fast, direct travel between our regions.”
“We are pleased to hear that direct flights between Gaborone and Cape Town will be resuming. Beyond our goal to connect Cape Town to the world, we want to continue to expand our reach on the continent. We are particularly excited about Gaborone as it is one of the economic hubs in Africa. We see this development as a very positive one,” said Executive Mayor, Dan Plato
Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management, Alderman James Vos, concluded: “The City of Cape Town and its partners are committed to continuing to build a world class city, where people live, work, play and invest. We welcome the resumption of the Cape Town Gaborone route as it assists in advancing our connectivity with the rest of Africa and further positions the Mother City as the Gateway to the rest of the continent.”
Cape Town Air Access is a partnership between the City of Cape Town, Western Cape Government, Wesgro, Cape Town Tourism, South African Tourism, Airports Company South Africa and private sector partners. To date, the CTAA initiative has helped land 8 new international airlines, 13 new direct routes and 18 route expansions, resulting in more than 1.5 million two-way seats being added into Cape Town International boosting the local economy by R6 billion.
Issued by Wesgro Media Team, 28 February 2019
28 February 2019