The Who’s Who of Travel Routes
This weekend I flew down to George, in the Western Cape province of South Africa, for a weekend away at Fancourt Estate and a chance to get my green-game back on. Such a state of affairs was necessitated by what can only be described as a dismally desaturated Joburg winter season, which had left me feeling rather colour-uninspired. Strangely, these varying hues of browns and yellows have never before impacted upon me as much as they did this year, so some time in the Garden Route was definitely in order.
George Airport intrigued me, not so much for the architectural inspiration, which is limited at best, but rather because of the sheer number of people flying in and out of the place. On both legs of my journey. So I got to thinking, where do people fly to, and from, here in South Africa?
Research data recently released by Travelstart.co.za ranking the most in-demand domestic and international flights, based on over 800 000 trips booked through the platform since the beginning of 2017, reveals Harare as the most travelled-to regional destination, beating London, Mauritius and New York for the top spot.
This rather surprising top dog winner may be as a result of the changing political climate in Zimbabwe; while London remains an important tourism and business route for South Africans. In terms of domestic routes, no surprises here – Cape Town, Joburg and Durban took the top spots respectively. Somewhat to my disappointment, George Airport has exited the top 10.
South Africa’s fourth largest airport by passenger volumes, Lanseria International Airport (my airport of choice whenever possible) has moved up in the rankings due to increased passenger capacity and runway upgrades. They also recently announced plans to double passenger numbers to more than 4 million within the next year. Here’s hoping it retains that small airport sense of ease, especially those magical turnaround times.
On the subject of Travelstart.co.za, did you know that it’s their birthday between 27 and 31 August? To celebrate they are running a massive flight sale, so be sure to sign up with the chaps for early access to some amazing deals.
I see a bit of a flight frenzy looming. If not, why not I always say!
The above travel route stats are based on flights originating at several ACSA Airports, including O.R. Tambo International Airport, Cape Town International Airport, King Shaka International Airport and others. This post has been published in collaboration with Travelstart.co.za.
What are your top three routes?
