Delta Airlines has applied to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) for scheduled passenger service between Atlanta (ATL) and Cape Town (CPT) at a frequency of three times per week.
The flights will be operated on 306-seat Airbus A350-900 aircraft in three classes, Delta plans to begin this new service on November 18, depending on the health situation between the two countries.
On May 21, Delta Airlines applied to DOT to operate a triangular service between Atlanta (ATL) – Johannesburg (JNB) – Cape Town (CPT) – Atlanta (ATL) with daily flights, due to Hot & High conditions at O.R. Tambo Airport (JNB) that force Airbus A350-900s to have cargo restrictions on non-stop operations between ATL-JNB. The company is still awaiting approval of this application by the South African authorities.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, Delta has early retired its entire fleet of Boeing 777-200LRs, the aircraft with which it operated to South Africa. The Atlanta-based airline will receive several Airbus A350s with an increased MTOW of 280 tons, with which it will be able to operate to Johannesburg (JNB) without penalty.
Delta proposes the following schedule to its service to Cape Town:
- Atlanta (ATL) 20:45 – Cape Town (CPT) 18:45+1.
- Cape Town (CPT) 21:00 – Atlanta (ATL) 06:25.
The carrier requests this service year-round with the flexibility to suspend the route during periods of low demand. Delta’s last operation to Cape Town (CPT) was in 2009. At that time it operated via Dakar, Senegal (DSS). With this new service to South Africa, it expects to offer multiple connections from its mega hub in Atlanta (ATL).
Currently, the bilateral air agreement between South Africa and the United States establishes 21 frequencies per week between the airlines of each country. At the moment 16 of them are being used and Delta is requesting 3 frequencies that are not being used.
U.S. operators dominating the market to South Africa
With the departure of South African Airways from the market, operators such as United Airlines have taken its place. The Chicago-based airline inaugurated last year a new service between Newark (EWR) and Johannesburg (JNB) with daily flights operated by Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. The airline also recently announced that the route to Cape Town (CPT) will operate throughout the year.
Data obtained by Aviacionline through the Cirium platform, Delta for the boreal summer season will offer an operation of six flights per week on Airbus A350-900s. This will represent an offer of 16,524 seats, down 7.5% compared to 2019.
See also: Delta Air Lines to resume flights to Venice
