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On the eve of restoring service on one of the longest flights in the world — a 17-hour nonstop from Atlanta to Johannesburg set to restart Aug. 1 — Delta Air Lines Inc. is adding another marathon flight to its South Africa repertoire.
The airline announced that it would fly to Cape Town beginning Dec. 17, a more-than-15-hour trip that expands the Atlanta-based airline’s Africa map, already the most extensive among American carriers.
The announcement came along with news that Delta would resuscitate a long-moribund flight from Atlanta to Tel Aviv, bringing back a nonstop Israel flight from the city for the first time since 2011.
Whereas Atlanta has been looked over in favor of other hubs for some recent nonstop international routes, notably to India, Delta’s home hub is starting to see more action as the airline’s recovery takes root.
The Cape Town route is an entirely new flight, selected after Delta had explored a hop-over from its Johannesburg stop, a tough proposition without a local codeshare partner in the country. With the thrice-weekly flights to Cape Town, Delta will serve South Africa 10 times per week from the U.S.
The flight demonstrates growing confidence in international market as pandemic-era restrictions start to ease around the world; airlines saw a big boost in June when the U.S. dropped its requirement for pre-departure tests for entry into the country, a restriction that applied even to citizens returning home from international trips.
In its most recent earnings release, Delta noted while posting $1.4 billion in operating profit that its international passenger revenue had been restored to 81 percent of 2019 levels, with revenue on the Latin American and Transatlantic segments, including Africa, exceeding pre-pandemic levels, presumably thanks to higher average fare prices.
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