Durban

With a healthy range of both direct and indirect services out of the UK, and a plethora of onward flights to key regional airports, Johannesburg is the standout option for travellers heading to Southern Africa, says Steve Hartridge.

The city’s Oliver Tambo International Airport (ORTambo) is the busiest African gateway by some margin, a statistic that befits The City of Gold’s long-held position as the financial capital of South Africa and the region’s outstanding economic powerhouse.
Another much-in-demand South African city, Cape Town – home of the country’s parliament and the head offices of several international companies – vies with Cairo as Africa’s most popular option for leisure travellers, and is home to the continent’s third busiest airport. Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, comes in fourth and, although primarily a gateway for those heading to East Africa, Nairobi is also a busy hub for connections to several Southern African destinations.

Oddly – in light of the region’s growing popularity among both business and leisure travellers in the run up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which South Africa will host – there is less flight capacity to Southern Africa than there was 12 months ago.
The reduction has been felt most keenly on the UK-South Africa direct route, particularly from London Gatwick as Nationwide pulled its daily Jo’burg service earlier this year.

Even South African Airways, which operates a thrice-daily service out of Heathrow, now offers fewer seats after ditching its fleet of 747s in favour of a combination of A340-600s and A340-300s in late 2007.

The airline offers two flights a day to Jo’burg and one to Cape Town year-round, with UK regional connections available with SAA’s Star Alliance partner bmi.

When its ‘new’ aircraft (which are actually three years old) were brought into the fleet, SAA reverted to a two-class service, rolling First and Business class into a new Premium Class product offering a 2x2x2 configuration with a 180-degree flat bed. Seats in the Economy cabin have a pitch of 33 or 34 inches.

SAA completed an 18-month restructuring programme this spring designed to guarantee the long-term profitability of the carrier, with airline chiefs insisting the future survival of the carrier is now assured.

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are the other carriers with a direct UK service to South Africa, with both offering popular – and thus heavily booked – services to Jo’burg and Cape Town.
BA’s operation comprises a year-round double-daily service from London Heathrow to Jo’burg – increasing to 19 a week from May – and a seasonal daily service to Cape Town.

Virgin’s daily Heathrow-Jo’burg service operates year round, although its daily Cape Town service also coincides only with South Africa’s popular summer season, this year running through to the end of March 2009. Both of Virgin’s services are offered in three-classes: Upper, Premium Economy and Economy.

Another, often cost-effective, alternative is to travel to South Africa via the Gulf with one of the three Middle East-based carriers that fly there.Etihad, Emirates and Qatar Airways operate, respectively, via Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Doha.
Etihad, which operates flights to Jo’burg, has a three-times-daily service out of Heathrow on five days a week, and a daily service from Manchester, with the best outward connections on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Business travellers in a hurry will most likely only consider the 13.50 flight out of Heathrow, which has the briefest turnaround time in Abu Dhabi of less than two hours (it leaves Etihad’s hub at 02.35) and arrives in Jo’burg at around 09.00 the next morning. With a time difference of just plus one or two hours ahead of the UK, travellers can face a full business day in South Africa relatively fresh. Etihad does not fly to Cape Town.

Emirates operates to Jo’burg, with flights to Dubai from Gatwick, Heathrow, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow, and has been flying to Cape Town since March 2008, although the airline has scrapped plans to introduce an Abu Dhabi-Durban service in January 2009.

Qatar Airways, with flights to Doha from London Gatwick, has daily connections to Jo’burg and a five-times-a-week service to Cape Town. First and Business Class passengers can make use in Doha of what has been billed as the world’s first-ever dedicated Premium class terminal.

Gulf Air, which used to operate a Bahrain-Jo’burg service, ditched the route in late 2007.

Indirect services to South Africa from other European nations include Air France’s wide range of UK regional connections, via Paris Charles de Gaulle and KLM’s regional flights to Amsterdam Schiphol and on to Jo’burg and Cape Town.

However they get there, visitors to South Africa will notice plenty of changes at the main gateway airports – both Jo’burg and Cape Town currently resemble building sites – as the country gears up to cope with the anticipated influx of tourists into the country for the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament. Airports Company South Africa’s (ACSA) three international airports – in Jo’burg, Cape Town and Durban – are all currently hubs of activity as a R5.2billion infrastructure expansion programme nears completion.

The key development at ORTambo, which will be completed by the end of 2009, is the brand new Central Terminal Building that will link the international and domestic terminals, resulting in a ‘central passenger processing unit’ for both domestic and international passengers. The facility will be equipped with infrastructure for baggage handling for the Airbus A380 and will be connected to the brand new Gautrain Rapid Rail Link, which will whisk passengers from the airport to central Jo’burg and Pretoria on two separate lines.

Reaching further afield in South Africa is relatively easy. The country has a number of airlines – including a healthy and thriving low-cost domestic airlines sector – flying between its major cities, and to some of its smaller ones with fares ranging from first-class to cut-price economy.

Between them SAA and its two subsidiaries, South African Express and Airlink, operate an extensive and frequent regional timetable on its domestic network, with flights to 19 airports that include key business cities across the country, such as Jo’burg, Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth and East London.
British Airways offers several regional connections via its regional subsidiary carrier, Comair, which flies from Jo’burg to Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. No-frills airlines Kulula.com, 1time and Mango (owned by South African Airways) offer cut-price flights on the more popular routes, between Jo’burg, Durban, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Nelspruit and George.

Connections from South Africa
Getting to most of South Africa’s regional neighbours is also relatively straightforward. Jo’burg and, to a lesser extent, Cape Town are hubs for a whole range of regional onward connections to African capitals and other popular destinations such as Harare (Zimbabwe), Livingstone (Zambia), Victoria Falls (Zambia), Gaborone (Botswana), Maputo (Mozambique) and Windhoek (Namibia).
Between them, SAA, South African Express and SA Airlink fly to 30 cities around the continent, including daily services to Windhoek, Livingstone, Mozambique, Windhoek, Lusaka, Nairobi and Zanzibar. British Airways, meanwhile, has routes to Harare, Windhoek, Livingstone and Victoria Falls.

Botswana
After building the type of prosperity that other African nations can only dream about on the back of its huge deposits of diamonds and, to a lesser extent, a top-end tourism sector, Botswana is now tapping into a rich seam of other minerals that include gold, copper, oil and uranium.
There are no direct flights from the United Kingdom to Botswana, although both SAA and Air Botswana offer connections from Jo’burg to the country’s capital, Gaborone, and Maun, the gateway to the Okavango Delta. Within Botswana, the Air Botswana network includes flights to Gaborone, from Maun, Kasani and Francistown.

Zimbabwe
Despite the country’s recent travails, which include the virtual collapse of its economy and the almost virtual abandonment of its tourism industry, Air Zimbabwe still operates a direct service from London Gatwick to Harare, the capital city. It’s B767-200ER offers 30 Business Class seats and 167 in Economy on international flights. Connections are available to second city Bulawayo and Victoria Falls. A major investment programme has led to the replace-ment of the airline’s entire fleet (with new Boeing aircraft).
The carrier also flies to a number of regional destinations including Jo’burg, Durban, Nairobi, Lilongwe, Dar-es-Salaam, Lusaka, Mauritius and Kinshasa, with the busiest regional route being Harare-Jo’burg and Jo’burg-Victoria Falls. The airline has inter-line agreements with over 150 airlines worldwide. SAA has a twice-daily Jo’burg-Harare service, nine-times-a-week service to Bulawayo and a daily service to Victoria Falls.

Zambia
Underpinned by its copper deposits and the ongoing development of gemstone mining, hydropower and tourism, Zambia attracts a steady flow of UK travellers. The only direct flights from the UK to Zambia’s capital Lusaka are operated by British Airways, which has a three-times-a-week service. Connections with regional carriers include those offered by South African Airways out of Jo’burg – a double-daily service to Lusaka and a daily service to Livingstone – and Kenya Airways from Nairobi.

Mozambique
Tipped to be Africa’s next big tourism destination, Mozambique nevertheless remains off the beaten tracks when it comes to convenient access from the UK. There are currently no direct services to the country’s capital, Maputo, although Kenya Airways offers an option via Amsterdam (with code-share partner KLM) and Nairobi, and TAP has a Gatwick-Lisbon-Maputo service. Both South African Airways and Mozambique domestic carrier, TM, offer a service from Jo’burg. SAA also has three flights a week to Beira and two weekly flights to Pemba.

Namibia
With rich mineral reserves of its own and a thriving tourism sector, Namibia is increasingly in demand. Odd then that Air Namibia’s Gatwick service now operates on just two days a week (there is a five-times-weekly service out of Frankfurt). Those wanting to fly on to Cape Town or Jo’burg face a three- or four-hour stop in Windhoek. SAA has a twice-daily flight from Jo’burg and a six-times-a week flight from the same airport to Walvis Bay.

Malawi
There are no flights to Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe, from the UK, but connections are available to the city from a few other cities in southern and eastern Africa, most notably Jo’burg, with SAA’s five-times-weekly service, and from Nairobi.

Angola
British Airways has a direct service from Heathrow to the country’s capital, Luanda, while SAA offers a four-times-a-week service from Jo’burg.

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