Sometimes, good things take time. Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (KMIA) opened to the public 20 years ago, but only now is it starting to realise its potential with German leisure carrier Eurowings Discover starting direct flights three times a week, all year round.
This is great news for the Lowveld tourist industry, as it will result in an immediate influx of well-heeled tourists and will create sustainable jobs. Eurowings, a subsidiary of Lufthansa, has stolen a march on its competitors by going straight to an acknowledged global tourist hotspot; no schlepping through OR Tambo Airport immigration queues and then either onto busses or a one-night stopover in Joburg on the way there and back. This must surely be a good recipe for success.
KMIA’s thatched-roof terminal looks rather quaint, but don’t be fooled; the airport was designed to carry large jets such as Boeing’s 747 on its 3.1km runway. Part of the reason for the delay in KMIA becoming a fully-fledged international airport was the SA civil aviation authorities’ insistence that all inbound flights go through Johannesburg. The authorities wanted to establish Johannesburg as a hub, from where connecting flights all around SA and the rest of the southern African region could be centralised.
Carriers from the Middle Eastern Gulf were having none of it and simply continued to fly into Cape Town and Durban regardless. BA and the other European airlines also decided that direct fights to Cape Town made commercial sense, even though SAA abruptly cancelled its London to Cape Town route several years ago.
Direct flights to and from KMIA are a tacit admission that centralised control of tourist arrivals and departures doesn’t work. Besides Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, the Kruger National Park is SA’s biggest natural attraction and it makes absolute sense to get as many foreign tourists in or near there as possible, without disturbing the natural beauty and tranquillity of the area.
There is obviously a cap on the numbers that can be accommodated in the Mpumalanga area as building new accommodation takes time. Still, there can be little doubt that this new venture will probably catalyse new interest in the area generally.
That’s not the only good news on the international tourism front. Several new airlines have already announced flights to SA, a welcome development after the coronavirus pandemic. Leisure airline Condor started Frankfurt-Cape Town flights in early October, on Tuesdays, Thursday and Saturdays, and Belgian carrier Brussels Airlines started flying to Joburg and Cape Town earlier this year. United Airlines, the large US carrier, recently started a non-stop, year-round service between Washington DC and Cape Town.
And from November 20, British Airways will double its flights to and from Cape Town to twice daily. From mid-December it will also offer thrice-weekly return flights from London Gatwick to Cape Town. Both services will run until the end of the tourist season in late March 2023.
One possible snag for foreign tourists using these new routes may be a shortage of domestic flights at the height of the holiday season following the demise of Comair in June. Though other operators have attempted to fill the gap, the domestic aviation market is struggling to accommodate travellers with reasonable prices.
But that aside, the developments are positive news for SA’s tourism and hospitality industry. It’s strange to consider that a year ago SA was on European travel redlists as a result of the discovery of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 here. Times have changed indeed.
• Gilmour is an investment analyst.
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