More SIA flights to S. Africa from April 1

SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA) will add another weekly 747 flight to South Africa from April 1 next year. It plans to add two more flights by 1997 to make it a daily service.

The additional flights are aimed at meeting increasing demand from businessmen and tourists in South Africa and Asian countries, said SIA’s Central and Southern Africa general manager, Mr Tan Chong Beng:

“South Africans are travelling increasingly to the Asia-Pacific for business. And Asians are heading to South Africa not just for business but leisure as well.”

SIA now flies four times a week to Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city and financial centre. Two of the four flights go on to Durban and Cape Town.

With the expansion next year, Mr Tan said that there would probably be another flight to Durban, which is the second-largest city in the country and a leading tourist destination.

The plan, he added, was to have an additional flight to Cape Town in 1996 and one more to Johannesburg the following year.

SIA started its Boeing 747-400 flights to South Africa in March 1992 after a liberal air-services agreement between the two countries in January that year.

As part of the air-services agreement between South Africa and Singapore, South African Airways has a thrice-weekly service to the Republic.

SIA, which flies to 70 cities in 40 countries, is one of four Asian airlines that have direct flights to South Africa. The others are China Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Malaysia Airlines.

Mr Tan said SIA’s expansion into South Africa was increasing at a faster rate than in any other part of the world. “South Africa is the gateway to the rest of Africa – and even South America, where we do not have any flights,” he said.