30 May US Travel Numbers to South Africa Soar
The number of US visitors to South Africa has surpassed pre-pandemic levels, United Airlines‘ Director of Sales for Continental Europe, India, Israel, Africa, and the Middle East, Thorsten Lettnin, told Engineering News in an exclusive interview.
In 2022, approximately 350,000 travellers from the United States visited South Africa, matching the number of visitors from the UK. “Since COVID, we have seen stronger demand on our South Africa routes,” Lettnin reports. “We think this is the new normal. It’s very good for United. We’re a major facilitator of US tourism and trade with South Africa. We’re really happy. Interestingly, on business travel, smaller companies have returned to air travel faster than larger businesses.”
United Airlines
United is the largest airline globally, measured in available seat miles (ASMs). ASMs, an international commercial aviation metric, are calculated by multiplying the total miles flown by an airline’s aircraft on all routes by the number of flights flown and the total number of seats on all the aircraft. United’s ASMs total 293 billion.
Currently, United operates three direct services from its US hubs to two destinations in South Africa: New York Newark to Johannesburg, New York Newark to Cape Town, and Washington DC to Cape Town. Additionally, United serves Accra, Ghana, and Lagos, Nigeria, with operations in Marrakesh, Morocco, starting in October.
Quality Consistently
“Our philosophy is that if you want to do business in Africa, you come with your best product,” Lettnin assures. “We currently operate the Boeing 777 on our Cape Town routes and the Boeing 787-900 Dreamliner on our Johannesburg route. These are our best products. They are equally good.”
Interestingly, tourist traffic is similar between summer and winter. However, the seasonal difference does justify substituting the 787 for the 777 during Cape Town’s lower season. “We provide consistent cabin quality, regardless of aircraft type,” Lettnin notes.
Both the 777 and the 787 are configured with four classes. Polaris (business) class features lie-flat seats with aisle access. Premium Plus offers leather seats and its distinct space, praised as a “super successful product” by Lettnin. Economy Plus has standard economy seats with 16cm extra legroom, and standard economy class completes the options.
Since September 2021, United has had a codesharing agreement with South African regional and domestic airline Airlink. This partnership gives United passengers access to the 53 destinations served by Airlink and Airlink passengers access to United’s Newark and Washington DC hubs and the US carrier’s global network through them.
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