TAP Air Portugal plans to relaunch flights to South Africa with a direct service to Cape Town from Lisbon, starting in November.
The airline cancelled flights to SA in 2011, when it cut its Johannesburg route.
The flight is scheduled to start on November 11 this year, with seasonal flights running three times a week to the end of March 2021, says Wesgro Air Access Project Manager Paul van den Brink.
He said the introduction of the flight was justified by the increase in passengers from Portugal that Cape Town had seen over the last two years. “We do not have direct connectivity to Southern Europe as of yet,” said van den Brink, adding that the route also offers good connectivity to North Africa, North America and Brazil, which is a fast growing market for Cape Town.
“While the tourism sector has been hit very hard due to the lockdown measures in South Africa and globally, there is light at the end of the tunnel,” says City of Cape Town Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management, James Vos.
TAP Air Portugal already flies to Angola and Mozambique in Southern Africa.
