Lufthansa expands SA operations with direct flights between Frankfurt and Cape Town

“This connection extends the Lufthansa Group’s flight offering to Cape Town, complementing the seasonal services of Lufthansa German Airlines from Munich and Zurich with SWISS leisure carrier Edelweiss,” says Dr. André Schulz, Lufthansa general manager for Southern Africa. During the European Winter Season, Lufthansa operates up to seven weekly flights between the carrier’s Bavarian Hub in Munich and Cape Town, while Edelweiss serves the city with two weekly flights.

Lufthansa currently operates a year-round daily flight between Frankfurt and Johannesburg with the Boeing 747-8, the next generation of the iconic Jumbo jet. In addition, Swiss International Airlines serves Johannesburg from its Zurich base, offering a daily service with an Airbus A340-300.

“After Johannesburg, Cape Town is one of the most important markets for the Lufthansa Group in Southern Africa and the new gateway will offer our customers access to some 200 destinations from the Frankfurt hub. It also unlocks new tourism opportunities for those coming in from Germany by offering attractive combination options to other destinations in Southern Africa through our Star Alliance partners," added Schulz.

The flight

The Cape Town route will be served by a newly retrofitted Airbus A340-300, which has over 279 seats and offers the new Intercontinental Business Class (30), new Premium Economy (28) Class and Economy Class (221).

Flight LH576 leaves Lufthansa's Frankfurt hub at 10.10pm and arrives in Cape Town the following morning at 11am. The return journey departs from Cape Town in the early evening at 6.30pm and touches down in Frankfurt the following morning at 5.30am, where passengers can access Lufthansa’s entire flight program from its main hub. In total the Lufthansa Group serves 316 destinations in 101 countries from its hubs in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. According to Schulz, Lufthansa has chosen departure and arrival times carefully to offer travellers the best possible options to access connections to the entire Lufthansa route network.”

“South Africa remains one of our most important markets in sub-Saharan Africa and a key destination for German as well as other European visitors. We are thrilled to continue building bridges between the Lufthansa Group and the South African tourist industry, says Claus Becker, director of sales, sub Saharan Africa.

“Germany’s central position in Europe makes it an excellent point of departure for business or leisure trips, from the largest Star Alliance hub in Europe,” he added.

Local tourism industry positive about new route

Locally, the Western Cape area’s tourism industry is ecstatic about Lufthansa’s additional frequencies into the region.

“This new Lufthansa route will have a positive impact on the tourism, trade and investment in the Western Cape Province,” says Tim Harris, CEO of Wesgro, the Western Cape’s official tourism, trade and investment promotion agency. “Germany is our third-largest foreign direct investment market and our third-largest export market outside of Africa. Cape Town Air Access, a division of Wesgro, is actively working on making the direct Frankfurt - Cape Town route a success through publicity, market awareness, and networking opportunities.

“The number of tourists from Germany is growing rapidly, so we are very pleased that Lufthansa added Frankfurt to their seasonal direct daily Munich service. With this additional capacity we expect that Cape Town International Airport will reach the 10 million passenger milestone this year.”

Deon Cloete, the general manager of Cape Town International Airport, also welcomed the announcement. “This additional service from Lufthansa is not only good news for the airport or the region, but particularly for those who need a directly flight to Frankfurt. We value the partnership and the ongoing commitment Lufthansa has made in growing their service and thereby providing connectivity to the rest of the world. This is a huge vote of confidence in our city and we look forward to the continued partnership.”

The new route at a glance

Frankfurt – Cape Town (South Africa)