South African Airways has decided to roll out one more weekly flight to India connecting Mumbai with Johannesburg from June 16. The airline already offers four flights on the Johannesburg-Mumbai route.
South African Airways has announced the launch an additional weekly flight to India, connecting to Mumbai from Johannesburg. Currently, the airline offers four flights on the popular Mumbai-Johannesburg sector.
With witnessing an increase in Indian tourist inflow, the airline has decided to amp up services on the route to meet the mounting demand.
In 2011, South Africa saw a 26.2 per cent increase in the figure of Indian tourists visiting the country as compared to the last year. More than 90,000 Indians booked flights to South Africa in 2011.
“We have witnessed a steady performance with growth in leisure tourism and MICE tourism from this country, which presents an important market for us, and this increase in flight frequency is a step in the right direction to meet market expectations,” South African Airways country manager for India Sajid Khan was quoted in media reports.
While South African Airways’ fifth direct flight to Mumbai from Johannesburg is scheduled for June 16, the country’s flag carrier has planned a sixth frequency scheduled for August 21, subject to government approval.
As of now, the airline runs the four weekly flights on Mumbai-Johannesburg route on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The new service will be on Sundays.
The carrier will deploy Airbus A330-200s on the route and will offer 36 business class seats for luxury seekers and 186 economy travel class seats for those preferring tickets on relatively cheap flights to India from Johannesburg airport and vice versa.
With India’s Jet Airways temporarily suspending the service on the route, South African Airways becomes the exclusive carrier offering direct Mumbai to Johannesburg flights.
