Virgin Atlantic to resume Cape Town flights
Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - Virgin Atlantic on Friday announced Friday it would resume direct flights from Heathrow to Cape Town's International Airport much earlier than anticipated, following a surge in demand for the service.
The airline's first flight back to Cape Town will depart on 17 November, with three flights planned per week. It had only planned to relaunch its Cape Town service in January, but following the removal of South Africa from the UK's COVID-19 red list, there were growing calls for flights to and from South Africa.
Flights from Cape Town will go on sale from 16 October.
Emirates Airlines has also expanded its operations to and from South Africa following the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
By 31 October, the Dubai-based airline will expand operations in and out of South Africa to 28 weekly flights.
It said the ramped-up operations will see two daily flights to Johannesburg and daily services to both Cape Town and Durban.
Emirates said it was strengthening its footprint across southern Africa with codeshare partnerships to offer its customers more flights and greater access to regional destinations.
South African travellers visiting Dubai must present a negative COVID‑19 test certificate issued within 48 hours of departure.
-0- PANA CU/RA 15Oct2021
