This year, Lufthansa German Airlines, one of Europe’s largest airlines, celebrates 55 years of successful operations in South Africa. Lufthansa launched its scheduled operations between Germany and South Africa on 14 May 1962. Just one year later, the Organisation for African Unity (African Union) was formed.
For 55 years, Lufthansa has connected South Africa to the world, and the world to South Africa. We are proud to have played a major role in connecting South Africans over the past 55 years, whether for business or leisure, to our ever-expanding worldwide network.
The Lufthansa Group recognises the importance of connecting Africa to the world, and the world to Africa; the group already has 178 weekly frequencies to 36 destinations in 27 countries.
The Lufthansa Group’s continued Africa expansion, particularly into the Southern Africa region,is due to a considerable and growing flow of people and capital between Southern Africa and Germany, with major Europe investment in Africa generating passenger demand in both directions.
The timing of introducing new routes into sub-Saharan Africa is right in light of the growing tourism and business ties. An increased number of leisure travellers from around the world, and European businesses across a multitude of sectors are taking advantage of the convenient connection times and regular flights offered from the Group’s Frankfurt, Zurich, and Munich hubs.
We have recently made several announcements of the Lufthansa Group’s continued investment and expansion into the region; Eurowings, the Group’s low-cost carrier, has recently announced a new Windhoek (WDH) Cologne (CGN) route, and will further commence its new seasonal service Cologne – Cape Town from November 2017. This is just the next step in the Lufthansa Group strategy to increase its service offering to Southern Africa. The Group has also significantly increased its frequency between South Africa and Germany with additional weekly flights to Cape Town.