Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) is extremely excited to welcome back South African Airways (SAA) to Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport, in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape, after the national carrier resumed flights earlier today.
The first SAA flight landed at Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport at 13:00 and was honoured with a water salute in celebration of the carrier’s resumption of the route. The route was cancelled in 2021 due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
The introduction of the new service between OR Tambo International Airport (JNB) in Johannesburg and Gqeberha will see SAA operating two daily return flights, seven days a week, between the two destinations. The aircraft type is a 737-800 with seat capacity of 189.
The flights are scheduled as follows:
- Johannesburg 11:25 > 13:00 Gqeberha
- Gqeberha 13:30 > 15:05 Johannesburg
- Johannesburg 16:00 > 17:35 Gqeberha
- Gqeberha 18:05 > 19:40 Johannesburg
Claudia Daniels, Airport Manager at Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport says “We congratulate SAA on relaunching the service ahead of the festive season and wish the airline every success in the future. This is a positive development that confirms the continued recovery of the local aviation industry and is also good news for the city of Gqeberha.”
In terms of recovery, Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport has year-to-date achieved 85% of the pre-pandemic passenger numbers. For the financial year 2022/23 (April 2022 to March 2023), the airport has seen over 1.2 million passengers.
The rate of recovery is accelerating at a satisfactory pace, and the number of departing passengers is higher than expected. In November alone, Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport had seen 58 989 departing passengers 58 759 arriving passengers and 566 departing aircraft movements.
Until now, travellers between Johannesburg and the “Friendly City” had only three airlines operating out of Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport (Airlink with daily flights between Gqeberha and Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg; Fly Cemair with daily flights between Gqeberha and Johannesburg; and FlySafair with flights between Gqeberha and Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg. Due to high demand, these flights are often heavily booked.
ACSA anticipates that, during the holiday season, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday will remain its usual busy days.
ACSA wishes all passengers a safe Festive Season and prosperous New Year!
