More Tourists for the Delta

[ian16th]

http://traveller24.news24.com/News/Flights/cape-town-gets-direct-flight-link-to-botswanas-okavango-delta-20160318

[Ex-Ascot]

Ian, thank you, we knew about the introduction but not the details. I think that they have overestimated the demand and expect the frequency to be cut back. It would be interesting to know the prices as JNB from here by Airlink is a great service but considerably more than Air Bots.

Anyway it will be good for us next summer to pop down there.

[ian16th]

You will know you are on the map when Cemair put on a service to Maun from Margate!

For the Margate to Joburg flight, on the days that they use the Beechcraft, passengers must have bladder control. They aint got a loo on board.

But the days that they use the Dash 8, Ah pure luxury.

[Ex-Ascot]

Margate - JNB that's one hell of a sector. Went there once as a kid with mum and dad. Great pier.

Yes indeed no way. One always have to have a few beers in Bon Arrive opposite the terminal after checking in (no licencing hour restrictions for locals). Wander across the road 15 mins before departure. Security (ha ha), immigration and straight through the departure lounge walk across tarmac, board, engine start. Seat signs off - loo.

[Woody]

In other news BA to fly from LGW to CPT three times a week from 24th Nov, at least that's some people who will not have to suffer the crap hole that is T3 at LHR

[Capetonian]

I also prefer LGW for a number of reasons and I am not really a fan of BA but the last time I travelled LHR-CPT (a few weeks ago) from T3 it was a remarkably quick and painless experience. Zero queue for checkin and only a minute or two for security. Boarding was not well controlled and a bit of a scrum.

Arriving back on Monday off the 042 the queue for immigration was terrible, but so many flights arrive in that early morning peak, I queued for nearly an hour. A friend who arrived this morning on the same flight queued for nearly 2 hours. That's beyond the control of the airline, and my gripe with BA is that although they are professional and usually pleasant in the air, their customer service department is a disgrace. Also those old 747-436s that they use on the CPT run have seen better days and the interiors are 'tired' to put it politely. The IFE is abysmal, it's about 20 years behind their competitors both technically and in terms of content. I don't really care as I don't make use of it, nor do I eat on board but the food looked pretty poor too.

Another plus for BA is that they allow you two pieces of cabin baggage with a (theoretical) maximum weight of 23kgs each, 1 standard sized and 1 'laptop' sized. I think that's pretty decent.

[Woody]

I think it's going to be the South Terminal , though as Sleazy jet are evicting BA later this year.

[Capetonian]

The BA services from LGW to CPT are scheduled for TN until 23JAN, then switch to TS from 26JAN.

Back to MUB, the SAA services CPT MUB are operating over the next few days at about 50% load - that's not a good omen for the longevity of the route, and it's mostly low yield traffic. I can't see loads on the BP services but I would suspect similar.

[Mrs Ex-Ascot]

Capetonian it is early days yet. We are still in the "shoulder season " and so don't have so many arrivals anyway. It will be interesting to see how many people opt for this route in the coming months; bearing in mind that a lot of package tour operators have already made bookings for camps and flights in advance. The target audience I would suggest is "locals " who are more likely to book at short notice depending on their short term holiday plans as opposed to the "holiday of a lifetime group "

[Capetonian]

You know your market better than I do, but given the high pricing levels of Botswana and the fact that it's primarily a tourist route, I am surprised that it's a 'short notice' route. I'll be interested to see how it works out.

[Mrs Ex-Ascot]

Capetonian you make a very valid point! There are however a lot of people who live and work here who would prefer to fly from here to Capetown; the road journey is long and people don't necessarily want to have to worry about the security of their vehicle. But in the past the flight has been longer than advertised (Air Bots ) or it just works out easier and cheaper to drive. If this new service survives and is reasonably priced I feel that it could work and will become reasonably popular even in low season.