The Cape Town Air Access (CTAA) project – an initiative by Wesgro to improve air route development for Cape Town – was awarded the Destination award at World Routes 2022 hosted in Las Vegas on 18 October.
The World Routes is the biggest aviation route development conference in the world. The 2022 event drew over 2 000 attendees and its seven award categories attracted a collective 1 000 award nominations. Both the nominating and judging is done by airlines.
A winning formula
Wrenelle Stander, CEO of Wesgro and Official Spokesperson of Cape Town Air Access, says, “It is a great honour to receive the prestigious Destination Award at World Routes 2022.
“As a small project consisting of only five individuals competing against larger world-class destination authorities, the acknowledgement of this award indicates that our project has a winning formula. Bringing together key stakeholders across public and private sector, in both aviation, tourism and business – we are able to lean on each other’s strengths and collaborate for a more competitive Western Cape. This has enabled us to lead the way for proactive route development in Africa and globally.”
“As a small project consisting of only five individuals competing against larger world-class destination authorities, the acknowledgement of this award indicates that our project has a winning formula.”
Despite the many challenges that air travel is presently facing, the CTAA is proud to report that Cape Town’s international arrivals have recovered to 65% of 2019 levels. In July, the airport reached 87% of 2019 levels, while air cargo volumes in the first half of the year (January to June) have recovered to 84% of 2019 levels.
Nine new routes and four new destinations since March
Additionally, since March 2021, nine routes and four new destinations have been announced for Cape Town. The new routes include Airlink’s non-stop service to Maputo, Mozambique, and Air Belgium’s triangular route between Brussels, Johannesburg and Cape Town.
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The CTAA also assisted assist Airports Company Zimbabwe (ACZ) establish route development initiatives that saw Eurowings Discover launch a Frankfurt-Victoria Falls service, and it helped Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (MQP) secure direct flights from France with the same airline.
Collective efforts have also seen United Airlines and Delta Air Lines ramp up their connectivity to Cape Town, which will result in 13 direct flights per week to the USA from January 2023. This will amount to a total of 64 000 inbound seats per week, year-round.
Virgin Atlantic will also resume flights from London to Cape Town (following its exit in 2015) with a daily seasonal service starting IATA winter 2022/23.
“With over 191 flights into Cape Town International Airport a week, from January 2023, we are looking forward to a bumper tourism summer season, and our focus is now firmly on ensuring that we are ready for this impressive growth.”
The Provincial Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, Mireille Wenger, says, “Congratulations to the Cape Town Air Access team on winning gold, and the Destination Marketing Award, at the very prestigious World Routes 2022 in Las Vegas. This significant achievement is testament to the hard work and dedication shown by the world-class Air Access collaboration in landing new routes to Cape Town and the Western Cape. More flights mean more visitors, and more visitors mean more jobs, and so we are a proud and committed partner in this programme. With over 191 flights into Cape Town International Airport a week, from January 2023, we are looking forward to a bumper tourism summer season, and our focus is now firmly on ensuring that we are ready for this impressive growth.”
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About the CTAA
Cape Town Air Access (CTAA) was established in June 2015 and has been the point of contact for air route development in Cape Town, South Africa for the last seven years. The project is powered by Wesgro (the official tourism, trade and investment promotion agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape) and brings together six public sector entities including Wesgro, the Western Cape Provincial Government Department of Economic Development and Tourism (DEDAT), the City of Cape Town (CoCT), Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), Cape Town Tourism (CTT) and South African Tourism (SAT), and private sector partners including Investec Private Bank, DHL Global Forwarding and the V&A Waterfront. The mission is to increase air connectivity and capacity into the Western Cape.
