from DION HENRICK in Cape Town
CAPE TOWN, (CAJ News) – PASSENGER performance at the Cape Town International Airport remains positive as South African enters the winter season.
Figures provided by Wesgro indicate as of June 5, the international terminal’s year-to-date recovery reached 57 percent compared to the same period in 2019.
This is a total of 681 000 international passengers passing through the airport.
Compared to the same period in 2019, the domestic terminal’s year-to-date recovery reached 75 percent with a total of 2,6 million domestic passengers.
On a more positive note, for the first quarter of 2022, Western Cape air cargo volumes recovered to an impressive 85 percent of 2019 levels.
Comparatively, the total recovery for 2021 amounted to 66 percent.
The month by month recovery shows this positive trend, with air cargo volumes reaching a recovery of 107 percent for March 2022, compared to the same period in 2019.
George Airport meanwhile saw a surge in passenger numbers for April, possibly due to the Easter holiday period, reaching a 107 percent recovery before returning to a 97 percent recovery in May, compared to the same period in 2019.
Nonetheless Cape Town and George will experience a significant drop in capacity due to the suspension of British Airways (operated by Comair) flights.
Comair’s seat capacity market share for Cape Town stood at 38 percent.
BA Comair had a 31 percent seat capacity market share for George in 2022 year-to-date.
Viability issues have grounded the airline.
– CAJ News