Delta Air Lines has today announced plans to launch a new route between Atlanta and Cape Town. This route has been in the works for quite some time, but is now official, as it has the required regulatory approval. This is in addition to two other cool route announcements from Delta today, for flights from…
Continue reading: Delta Launching Atlanta To Cape Town Route In December 2022
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You say that US DOT "managed to negotiate an additional two frequencies" which is not quite accurate. The "additional frequencies" are extra-bilateral, so they are basically a concession from the South African side granted in exchange for certain concessions from the US side (undisclosed, but most likely related to third country codeshare restrictions that had been a sticking point in the past). The BASA remains restricted to 21 frequencies on each side, so these may not be reallocated without consent of the SA side, unlike if the BASA had been amended to increase the frequencies.
Delta is also re-adding ATL-Tel Aviv next spring, also 3 days/week on the A350 as well as LAX to PPT (Tahiti) 3X/week on the 767 this winter.
There are statements elsewhere that Delta is beefing up MIA-LAX which they have flown infrequently for years but that is not confirmed by Delta.
Great news. But what will Delta do now to support its JBurg route going forward w/o 777s? I assume it will keep flying the route?
When are they going to do something about improving the Premium Select meals back to pre-pandemic level?
An economy class meal in PS is not very Premium.
Well, ask Delta Twitter and get a quick reply:
Hello! Thank you so much for reaching out.
While I am not seeing a timeline specifically for bringing back meals we have made some enhancements to our Delta Premium Select service that began on July 26th.
Psgrs will receive a Welcome Card with printed mini menu and QR code when available, a scented towel followed by sparkling wine/water, Bites (packages snack), water and cutlery. Acces to the Delta One Skybreak basket will be offered after completion of the first service.
There will be another Phase happening at a later time as well and details will be forthcoming.
yes, Delta will maintain ATL-JNB. If anything, the flight may stop in CPT on some days during S. Africa summer. DL asked for the permission to do that but was denied because they didn't serve CPT. ATL is the longest destination any airline serves from JNB and even the 777LR had to make stops on some days during S. African summer.
Given that the A350 is a larger aircraft than UA's 787-9s, DL and UA have about the same number of seats to/from S. Africa even though UA now has more flights.
I have tried several times to inquire with a Delta representative over the phone about booking the proposed “Triangle “ flight from ATL-Johannesburg-Cape Town-ATL. Not a single Delta representative has ever heard about this flight.
That's because it has never a real flight. It was proposed/requested by Delta to the South African government, but that routing was denied and never flown nor offered for sale.
I have no information, I am making this up based on my prior experience attempting to import backpacking freeze-dried food to South Africa, where the ANC Minister demanded a bribe, and I dropped the proposal. South Africans still have no edible backpacking freeze-dried food. I have it, I bring it with me. Backpacking is of course a white person's sport. The Minister knows nothing of it, nor supports it.
My facts here may be wrong. My opinions are challengeable. I am a user. I am not in the loop, but I experience things, I live in the dark and bump into things, and I must guess what they are.
SAA gave up its lucrative US-SA routes, based on ANC propaganda. I believe SAA also gave up its profitable SA-South American routes. The ANC was upset that most of the faces on these flights were white. Instead of running a profitable airline based on real flyers, they decided to fly to African destinations, predicting, correctly, that the faces on these flights would be black. But the flights flew mostly empty. SAA lost so much money it went out of the international business. SAA is just another state owned enterprise that feeds cronies with taxpayer monies. It has not, and IMO will not, buy any modern long distance jets, and so its international future is sterile. The regulatory body is now similarly cronified.
Until demanded bribes are paid, no route changes are going to be approved. It's all settled now.
I am very grateful to Delta and United for servicing routes I need. Getting from South Africa to South America now requires me to fly to Miami. I'm going to buy a boat. It's just a hop across the South Atlantic. They do it every year in the Cape-Rio yacht race.
I believe it’s fantastic that Delta Airlines will be serving Cape Town year round, it will really compliment their service to Jo’burg. I think it’s great that they will be taking on United Airlines for passengers to and from the United States. I wish Delta all the best with this new service and hope it will be a success!