Cape Town - Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula could be a fly in the ointment of the province’s tourism recovery if he delays signing the bilateral air service agreement which will allow Delta Air to fly a triangular route between Atlanta, Johannesburg and Cape Town.
This emerged during a briefing to the legislature’s Standing Committee of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism by the Airports Company South Africa (Acsa), the national department of transport, and Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC David Maynier.
Maynier told the committee that Mbalula’s delay had caused the province to reinstate an intergovernmental dispute with the department, but he hoped negotiations arranged by the department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs would result in a solution.
Committee member Nomi Nkondlo (ANC) asked whether the national department’s concerns, which led to the dispute about Delta Airlines, were regulatory.
Acting deputy director general Tshishi Pewa, whose portfolio included civil aviation, said she understood the core of the dispute was the differences in interpretation of the clauses in the air transport agreement between South Africa and the US.
“I can confirm that we are having a meeting with our provincial counterparts soon to find each other on this matter regarding Delta Airlines and the matter should be resolved as a result,” she said.
In response to committee member Lulama Mvimbi (ANC), who asked whether there were other US airlines flying to Cape Town and, if so, why the province was so obsessed with Delta, Maynier said the scope of the intergovernmental dispute was broader than Delta Airlines and there were other cases, such as that of Etihad Airlines.
Committee chairperson Gillion Bosman (DA) said that with the unemployment rate continuing to increase, what was needed was a responsive national government to facilitate bringing more tourists to Cape Town and South Africa as a whole.
Acsa said the influx of airline passengers to South Africa had seen a recovery of 53% this year compared with the pre-pandemic levels in 2019, and this was expected to increase to 69% in the 2022/23 financial year.
Acsa chief executive Mpumi Mpofu shared passenger trends for Cape Town International Airport to give committee members a sense of how the organisation had been affected by the pandemic and the impact on passenger volumes.
Mpofu said the arrival of international travellers to South Africa, which had seen a recovery of 33%, was lagging behind domestic travel, which had recovered to 59% of pre-pandemic levels.
On April 1, Turkish Airlines introduced its most advanced aircraft, the Dreamliner, to the Cape Town route.
This was followed on April 5 by an announcement by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines that it would increase its flight schedule between Cape Town and Amsterdam to six flights a week, from July 11.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday the City announced the start of a new R500 million mega housing project, which is expected to deliver State-subsidised housing opportunities to more than 3 000 qualifying beneficiaries and their families, during a sod turning ceremony for its new ACSA Symphony Way housing project.
Mayco member for human settlements Malusi Booi said the project will see the development of 3 200 state-subsidised Breaking New Ground (BNG) units.
According to the signed Memorandum of Agreement (MOA, 2015) between ACSA and the City, the target area for this housing project will be Blikkiesdorp, Malawi Camp and Freedom Farm.
The land where Blikkiesdorp is located will eventually be incorporated into the Cape Town International Airport precinct.
As a result, Blikkiesdorp will not exist in the future as all of those who are legitimately residing there will have to be relocated once it is decommissioned.