British Airways Cuts Some Cape Town Flights for 2016

LONDON – British Airways has announced it will cut two of its seasonal flights to Cape Town in 2016, which some have ascribed to the new visa restrictions for South Africa.

BA said the flight to Cape Town on Thursdays and Saturdays, and the return flight on Fridays and Saturdays would end on March 27, 2016, for the duration of the British summer. A BA spokesperson said the airline was constantly updating its schedule and did not comment on whether it was due to the changes in visa regulations in South Africa for children.

A member of the South African Tourism Services Association recently said that the fall-off in ticketing revenue for South Africa in mid-2015 was directly due to the visa changes.

At the same time, however, airlines are battling over South African routes. Qatar Airways recently announced it will fly into Cape Town and Durban, and another airline, possibly Turkish Airlines, might fly into Durban too.