SOUTH African Airways’ (SAA) last flight out of Zurich will depart at the end of April. The destination will instead be serviced through a codeshare agreement with Swiss International Air Lines, presently operating six times a week, with daily frequencies coming on in July. SAA will replace this route with three flights a week between Munich and Johannesburg from the beginning of July. Together with Frankfurt, Munich will become SAA’s second destination in Germany. The airline says the decision was taken as the Frankfurt flight is regularly full, and the extra destination will tap into new markets. “Connections on the Munich route provide improved access to other German cities, including Düsseldorf and Berlin, as well as to cities in other important tourism source market, such as Italy, Sweden, Norway, Austria, Belgium and Spain,” says Jacqui O’Sullivan, Head of SAA corporate communications. Industry insiders say the scrapping of Zurich could mean SAA is losing interest in European routes and focusing instead on its Africa network. Italian tour operators are not so enthusiastic about SAA’s decision to begin operating out of Munich. Patrizia Mazzoni Bomben from Il Diamante says Italian operators were hoping to have a flight out of Italy. “It looks like the Italian market is not good enough for South Africa. Our dream is for SAA to begin operating out of Milan or Rome again.” With regard to connections, Bomben says Munich is a better destination for Italy, than Zurich. Other source markets do not predict that SAA’s changes will have much effect. James Westrip from Africa Collection in the UK says most UK customers will only fly via mainland Europe to reduce the fare, but this would mean they would fly another airline. Operators in France and The Netherlands say their clients prefer direct flights or other airlines too. Sandy Collier from Africa Dynamics in the US says Munich will appeal to the leisure traveller, while Zurich was a better destination for the business traveller. Sue Lewitton (suel@nowmedia.co.za)
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