FlySafair has announced its first new route for 2024, introducing direct flights from Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) to Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (KMIA), just outside the Kruger National Park, from 2 April. The airline will make use of its Boeing 737-800 for the new connection. “We are very pleased to be able to start the year off with such an exciting new route. Although flights to areas surrounding the Kruger National Park are readily available from Johannesburg, there are limited commercial flight options from Cape Town,” says Kirby Gordon, chief marketing officer at FlySafair.
The inaugural flight for this route is planned for 2 April and will make use of FlySafair’s Boeing 737-800
Thanks to the concerted efforts of Cape Town Tourism, the city has experienced a boom in popularity, particularly with international visitors. International tourism in the city has boomed, increasing by 76% between January and July last year.
During the busy Christmas period, the number of visitors to the city exceeded pre-Covid levels with officials recording 317 thousand international tourists passing through the city’s main airport with two-way tickets. Local travel to the Mother City has also grown.
In the first six months of 2023 alone, Cape Town saw 3.2 million domestic two-way passengers pass through Cape Town International Airport, representing a 9% year-on-year growth. As a result, many of the local tourist attractions have seen drastic increases in the number of visitors.
The Kruger National Park is one of the awe-inspiring and unique tourist attractions South Africa has to offer. Beyond acting as an important source of income for surrounding communities, it also plays an important role in preserving our country’s biodiversity and wildlife heritage. Growing this route will encourage international tourists and Cape Town locals to extend their holidays to include a visit to the park. This is likely to have a marked positive effect on overall tourism in South Africa.
“Cape Town and the Kruger National Park are two of our country’s most popular tourist destinations. Unfortunately, though, they sit in opposite corners of our country, making travel between them both inconvenient and costly,” says Gordon.
“We hope that by introducing our low-cost option to the market, we can encourage more tourists to build a visit to Kruger into their trip itineraries while also opening this gem to the people of the Western Cape.”
The inaugural flight for this route is planned for 2 April and will make use of FlySafair’s Boeing 737-800. Flights will leave from Cape Town at 9am every Tuesday and Saturday and will land at the destination around 11.30am. The aircraft will then be turned around, taking off from KMIA at 12.05pm and landing at approximately 2.50pm.
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