Cape Town is one of the world’s most attractive tourist destinations. Whether visiting the iconic Table Mountain or Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for decades, or enjoying numerous leisure activities such as visiting its many wine farms or white-sand beaches, there is much to do in the ‘Mother City.’ It has also been voted one of the most affordable vacation destinations, so it is no surprise that it broke its all-time record for international passengers last summer.
The only challenge is that it is a long-haul flight away from most major markets in North America, Europe, and Asia. But for aviation geeks like us, adding a fascinating flight to a dream vacation can increase the destination’s attraction immensely. So, let’s take a closer look at the top 10 longest routes from Cape Town International Airport (CPT), according to Cirium, an aviation analytics company.
10
São Paulo
Distance: 3,944 miles
São Paulo (GRU) is the only destination on the list flown by the flag carrier, South African Airways. In years gone by, the airline used to have multiple flights from CPT to Europe, most notably its highly valued slots at London Heathrow. However, since its well-publicized financial difficulties, South African Airways has discarded all but three of its legacy Airbus A330s, A340s, and A350s and doesn’t have the fleet capacity to fully capitalize on the tourism growth at CPT.
Photo: Fasttailwind | Shutterstock.
The route to São Paulo is flown twice a week, departing Tuesdays and Saturdays, and complements the Monday/Thursday Johannesburg (JNB)-São Paulo service. South African Airways utilizes one of its Airbus A330-300s on the route, which has a 249-seat, 2-class configuration with 46 business class and 203 economy class seats.
9
Doha
Distance: 4,615 miles
Qatar Airways provides daily service between CPT and Doha (DOH) using a 283-seat Airbus A350-900. The airline chooses to use the ‘Super Diamond’ version of its A350-900 on the route, which is configured with 36 Collins Super Diamond seats in business class and 247 economy class seats, as opposed to its alternative A350 configuration that features 36 of its highly popular QSuites in business class.
8
Dubai
Distance: 4,734 miles
Emirates is the largest international carrier to CPT, flying a twice-daily Boeing 777-300ER service from Dubai (DXB). It also flies three times daily to Johannesburg (2 x A380; 1 x B777) and daily to Durban (B777), making it the largest international airline flying to South Africa with more than 2,000 daily seats.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
Both flights to CPT operate within 5 hours of each other, with an outbound daylight flight to CPT and an overnight return to DXB. The carrier utilizes the 3-class, 360-seat version of its B777-300ER on the route, which means it provides over 21,500 seats to CPT each month, more than double the next largest airline (KLM).
7
Istanbul
Distance: 5,215 miles
Turkish Airlines has been flying direct to CPT from its Istanbul (IST) base for more than two decades and has long been a popular alternative route to Europe for travel-minded South Africans. The airline uses one of its Boeing 787-9s on the route, which offers a total of 300 seats, 30 of which are in business class and 270 in economy class.
6
Frankfurt
Distance: 5,814 miles
Frankfurt (FRA) is the only destination on the list with more than one airline on the route:
- Leisure airline Condor flies the 12-hour route to CPT three times weekly, utilizing its nearly new 310-seat A330-900. The seasonal service has been in place for more than a decade and is specifically aimed at taking German tourists to a sunny destination during the Northern Hemisphere winter months.
- Lufthansa also flies a daily direct service to CPT, one of the few remaining routes on which you can still fly an A340-300. As summer in the Southern Hemisphere approaches and the airline’s winter schedules kick in, Lufthansa will also start a daily A350-900 service from Munich (MUC) to CPT in October.
Photo: Lukas Souza | Simple Flying
5
London
Distance: 5,994 miles
London (LHR) to Cape Town has historically been one of the most trafficked routes to South Africa. Today, only British Airways serves the route following the struggles of South African Airways, and it provides a daily service using its A350-1000s. The aircraft offers 331 seats: 56 each in business and premium economy and 219 in economy.
Photo: Lukas Souza | Simple Flying
However, as flying to South Africa’s summer months begins in earnest in October, Virgin Atlantic will return to the LHR-CPT route with daily B787-9 service. Flights will also resume from more leisure-focused London Gatwick (LGW), with British Airways providing a three-times-weekly B777-200 service. At the same time, Norwegian low-cost, long-haul carrier Norse Atlantic is scheduled to start a new three-times-weekly B787-9 service.
4
Amsterdam
Distance: 5,997 miles
KLM has long connected Amsterdam (AMS) to the city founded by Dutch seafarers in 1652. Its daily service utilizes the highest-capacity aircraft flying to Cape Town: a 3-class, 381-seat Boeing 777-300ER, with 35 seats in business class, 24 premium economy seats, and 322 economy class seats. However, 56 of the economy seats are branded as ‘economy comfort,’ offering 2” more recline and 4” more row pitch. The route frequency and aircraft size make KLM the second-largest carrier to Cape Town, offering just over 10,000 seats in September.
Photo: StephanKogelman | Shutterstock
3
Newark
Distance: 7,816 miles
United Airlines‘ Newark (EWR) to CPT service is one of two direct, 3-times-weekly services the airline provides to the Mother City. Launched just before the pandemic in November 2019 with a 257-seat B787-9, demand on the route has been so high that it flies the route year-round and recently upgraded the aircraft used to a 276-seat B777-200ER on the 16-hour flight.
Photo: Robin Guess | Shutterstock
As Thorsten Lettnin, United’s director of sales for EMEA, explains:
“If you look at the demand for travel to Cape Town specifically, one would think that it is volatile and there’s less demand during the South African winter. However, we have found stable and growing demand throughout the entire year and we are actively looking at further growth opportunities.”
2
Washington DC
Distance: 7,923 miles
Washington DC (IAD) is United Airlines’ second direct service to CPT, also flying three times weekly. The airline recently moved it from a B787-9 to a higher-capacity 276-seat B777-200. Together with the EWR-CPT service and the airline’s daily EWR-JNB service, United now has 13 weekly flights to South Africa. The airline would love to have more but is constrained by the number of slots that the South African government is willing to make available to US airlines, and has had to share those on offer with Delta Air Lines.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
1
Atlanta
Distance: 8,127 miles
The longest route from CPT at over 8,000 miles is to the world’s busiest airport, Atlanta (ATL), operated by Delta Air Lines. This is the carrier’s second-longest route (after ATL-JNB). Delta utilizes a 306-seat A350-900 three times weekly on the route, offering four different classes of service (32 seats in Delta One, 48 seats in Premium Select, 36 seats in Comfort+, and 190 seats in Economy).
Photo: Karolis Kavolelis | Shutterstock
This route materialized after a contentious battle with United, which, after initializing its EWR-CPT service, wanted to add the IAD-CPT service as well. Delta challenged this as giving United an advantage on the limited available slots to South Africa, and it was only resolved once the South African government allowed both airlines to add thrice-weekly flights.