2 October 2009
Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has launched daily flights between its Abu Dhabi home base and Cape Town.
Cape Town becomes Etihad’s second destination in South Africa, after Johannesburg, and joins Cairo, Casablance and Khartoum as the airline’s fifth destination on the African continent.
The airline will make use of an Airbus A330 on the route.
“South Africa is a leading global destination of choice for tourism and commerce and we are thrilled to launch a daily service to Cape Town, our second city in the country,” Etihad Airways CEO James Hogan said in a statement this week.
Expatriate community
According to the statement, the new Cape Town service is expected to be welcomed by the South African expatriate community living in the UAE, which now stands at approximately 40 000 people.
Many more South African nationals live across the Middle East region and also will be able to connect quickly and easily back home via Abu Dhabi, the airline said.
Etihad started flights to Johannesburg in December 2005, and has since then established itself as one of the airline’s most successful destinations.
“In addition to the strong demand for flights from expatriate South African nationals, business and leisure travellers, many thousands of football fans are expected to travel there next year when South Africa hosts the 2010 Fifa World Cup,” Hogan added.
SAinfo reporter
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