Audrey D’Angelo
The first of SAA’s new nonstop flights to Beijing is due to take off from Johannesburg’s OR Tambo Airport on January 31, and many people in the travel and tourism trade are confident that it will become one of our national carrier’s most strongly supported routes as two-way trade and tourism continue to grow.
Beijing already attracts large numbers of South African corporate travellers and a growing number of tourists, particularly since the last Olympic Games were held there, causing more modern international hotels to open and making the city easier for foreign visitors to find their way around. And growing numbers of Chinese tourists are arriving here this week as they celebrate the Chinese New Year – this is the start of the Year of the Dragon.
Wally Gaynor, the chief executive of Club Travel, whose organisation works with Chinese travel agents to bring tourists to this country and facilitates the arrival and transfer of large numbers of Chinese workers on projects in neighbouring countries, was confident that SAA’s new route would be a big success.
“There is a huge volume of air traffic between this country and China,” he said.
“Most of the travellers from this country are on business, but having the first direct flight to mainland China from this country should increase the number of tourists.
“SAA is starting the new service with three flights a week, but I am sure demand will cause them to introduce a daily service very quickly.”
However, the managing director of another travel agency, pointed out that many South African corporate travellers entered China by way of Hong Kong, to which both SAA and Cathay Pacific Airlines have daily flights from Johannesburg, or by way of Dubai with Emirates. And although there was heavy demand, it might take some time for SAA to make the route profitable in a competitive environment.
SAA is starting the route with an Airbus A340-600 with business class and economy class seats. Dileseng Koetle, the head of corporate affairs, said the first passengers were “a good mix of corporate and leisure travellers. However, business traffic predominates, given China’s growing economic presence in Africa. We do, however, expect large groups of Chinese tourists during their holiday seasons, such as the Chinese New Year and Golden Week.”
She said the launch of the new service was in line with South Africa’s strategy to expand its network to Asia, the fastest growing market in the world. “China and South Africa established a comprehensive strategic partnership in August last year. Introducing direct flights to China will promote tourism and trade, not only to South Africa but also to all the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and other African countries.”
Koetle said the new flight route would also “create a bridge between South Africa and China, connecting three of the Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries, and promoting trade between them.”
It had not affected bookings for SAA’s well supported daily flights to Hong Kong.
“On the contrary, it will help us to serve and expand the market even better. The Hong Kong and Beijing flights serve different catchment areas, since China is a huge country with a large population.
“The Beijing flight will serve the northern, central and western areas of China, while Hong Kong serves the southern China and Pearl River delta areas, as well as providing connections to other important markets such as Japan, Korea and the Philippines.”
Discussing a suggestion by Marthinus van Schalkwyk, the Minister of Tourism, that SAA should also fly to Shanghai, Koetle said SAA was in talks with its partners in the international Star Alliance about the possibility of codeshare services.
Michael Tatalias, the director of the Southern African Tourism Service Association (SATSA), the umbrella body representing the entire tourism industry, said it would be important for SAA to time its arrivals and departures for connecting flights between Beijing and other cities in China by local airlines.
He said the new flight was certain to be used by travellers on South African government business. But he pointed out that many South African corporate travellers, who had been visiting China for years, were regular customers with other airlines such as Emirates, which offered a stopover in Dubai en route, and the comfort of flying on a giant Airbus A380.
Sally George, the market development manager of Singapore Airlines in South Africa, said it regularly carried corporate travellers from Cape Town and Johannesburg to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou by way of Singapore.
In addition to its own connecting flights to these three important business destinations, passengers could catch other connections to Chinese cities offered by a sister airline, Silk Air.