THE seasonality of the
Cape Town market is
the biggest challenge for
international airlines wanting to
operate year-round daily flights
to the Mother City.
Speaking to TNW at Turkish
Airlines’ annual golf event
at Pearl Valley golf course in
Franschhoek, Kenan Ince,
Cape Town gm of Turkish
Airlines, said while demand
to Cape Town and passenger
volumes had significantly
increased in recent months,
the airline would still switch
back to servicing Cape Town
through Johannesburg and
Durban at the end of March,
after flying directly to the city
since the end of October last
year.
Cape Town will be served
through Johannesburg three
times a week between April
and October, and through
Durban four times a week.
The switch in the Cape Town
schedule means Durban
will be served directly from
Istanbul.
“Our ultimate goal is to
fly directly to Cape Town
throughout the year but at
the moment that is just not
feasible due to the seasonality
of the traffic demand in
this particular market,” said
Kenan. He added that the
airline would, however, again
introduce direct flights from
Cape Town to Istanbul on
November 1.
“At the moment we are
hesitant to put a date to
a permanent direct flight
between Cape Town and
Istanbul, but we would like to
see this happen by next year.”
Kenan said he was extremely
optimistic about the Cape
Town market, which during
the past five months of direct
flights, had seen an increase
of at least 84% in passenger
volumes.
“Growing the Cape Town
market is therefore a top
priority as we continue to see
an increase in demand.”
Currently the business class
seats on the Airbus 330,
which is used to service Cape
Town directly, are not sufficient,
says Kenan. “We only have
28 business-class seats
available and we know this is
not enough. We are planning
to increase this as soon as
possible.”
