Andrew Stegmann
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Inaugural United Airlines Direct Flight From New Jersey Lands in Cape Town

The inaugural United Airlines direct flight from New Jersey’s Newark Airport to Cape Town International Airport landed at 6pm on Monday amid much pomp and ceremony.
The ultra-long-haul flight sees the airline returning to Africa – United last flew to Africa via its Houston to Lagos route, which was discontinued a few years back – with plans to operate three weekly seasonal, non-stop flights between Newark and Cape Town until March 25 next year.

Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC David Maynier said: “The United States is a key tourism and business market for the province, and we look forward to welcoming United’s customers to Cape Town and the Western Cape.

This new service will open up the US and North American markets to opportunities in the Western Cape, and significantly contribute towards growing our tourism sector and stimulating economic growth in the Western Cape.

United’s regional managing director of sales, Bob Schumacher, said: “Our new service […] will provide our business and leisure customers with a seamless and more convenient way to travel between South Africa and North America, and more immediate access to everything the Americas has to offer.”

Wesgro chief executive Tim Harris said: “The new route will enable new and expanded economic opportunities on both sides of the Atlantic.”

The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft features 48 seats in United Polaris business class, 88 seats in Economy Plus and 116 seats in United Economy.

Meanwhile, Cape Town Air Access received the Overall Winner Award for the second consecutive year at the annual Routes Africa 2019 Awards in Mombasa, Kenya last week.

Cape Town won three awards at the ceremony, including Best Airport in Africa in the 4-20 million passenger category; Destination Marketing award for Cape Town Air Access; as well as the Overall Routes Africa award.

Cape Town Air Access is a partnership between the City, the Western Cape Government, Airports Company SA, Cape Town Tourism, Wesgro and South African Tourism, which aims to land more direct routes into Cape Town International Airport.

 

For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email info@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.

Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], BlogDeBanderas [2].

Andrew Stegmann
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South African Airways is Changing Certain African Flight Routes and Reissuing Tickets

The below is a media statement released by South African Airways.

South African Airways is further strengthening its presence in Ghana by increasing weekly frequencies from 9 to 10 flights between Johannesburg and Accra, and by launching a daily service between Accra and Washington DC, with effect from 5th September 2019.

South African Airways regrets the inconvenience that this strategic decision may have on our customers and would ensure that those customers that already hold tickets for the affected flights are re-accommodated.

Ticketed SAA customers travelling between Johannesburg and Washington D.C. via Dakar (Blaise Diagne International) will be re-routed through one of the following options:

  1. Passengers travelling between Johannesburg (JNB) and Dakar (DSS):
    From Johannesburg (JNB) to Abidjan (ABJ) on flight SA 056 and from Abidjan (ABJ) to Dakar (DSS), on either Air Côte d’Ivoire (HF), Kenya Airways (KQ) or RwandAir (WB)
    From Dakar (DSS) to Abidjan (ABJ), on either Air Côte d’Ivoire (HF), Kenya Airways (KQ) or RwandAir (WB) and connecting onto flight SA 057 from Abidjan (ABJ) to Johannesburg (JNB)
  2. Passengers travelling between Johannesburg (JNB) and Washington D.C (IAD) via Dakar (DSS), SAA will re-accommodate passengers onto the Johannesburg (JNB) – Accra (ACC) – Washington D.C. (IAD) route and vice versa.
  3. Passengers travelling between Washington D.C. (IAD) and Dakar (DSS), can be re-accommodated via Brussels (BRU) to Dakar (DSS) on Brussels Airlines (SN) and vice versa.
    SAA will rebook affected passengers holding tickets as mentioned in points 1, 2 and 3 and the following rebooking conditions will apply:
  • Change of cabin class will not be permitted
  • Change fees will be waivered
  • Tickets must be re-issued on or before 23 August 2019. The issuing agent may re-issue the ticket with the following endorsement: INVOL SKCHG due to SA 207/208 CXD/Date
  • In the event where passengers do not wish to travel as re-accommodated by SAA, passenger may request a full refund of the unused ticket, without penalty.

Customers are encouraged to contact your Travel Agent, any SAA Office or our Contact Centres for assistance with flight changes.

The South African (Johannesburg) assistance line is 0861 606 606, and the US assistance line (Fort Lauderdale) is 1 (800) 722 9675.

To read the full media statement, click here.

 

For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email marketing@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.

Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: Adrian Pingstone [1], [2].

Andrew Stegmann

We Will be Attending Worldwide ERC’s Global Workforce Symposium 2019 in Boston This October

Our Director, Rene Stegmann, will be representing Relocation Africa at Worldwide ERC’s Global Workforce Symposium 2019 in Boston this October.

Taking place at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, MA, October 16 – 18, the Symposium provides an opportunity for those in the mobility industry to come together to network, and share global perspectives.

The Symposium has over 1,800 registrants from over 50 countries, and has talks scheduled for all 3 days.

To select a time to meet with Rene at the event, click here.

 

For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email marketing@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.

Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], Osman Rana [2].

Andrew Stegmann
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Google Plans to Build Equiano, a Subsea Cable from Portugal to South Africa

Google will build a new undersea cable from Portugal to South Africa, which promises to bring superfast internet to local shores. The new cable will use state-of-the-art infrastructure based on space-division multiplexing (SDM) technology. SDM transmits information along parallel channels.

This will deliver approximately 20 times more network capacity than the last cable built to South Africa, Google said in a statement. “(It) will be the first subsea cable to incorporate optical switching at the fiber-pair level, rather than the traditional approach of wavelength-level switching.”

This greatly simplifies the allocation of cable capacity, giving Google the flexibility to add and reallocate it in different locations as needed. The new cable, which will be fully funded by Google, is expected to be operational in South Africa by 2021.

A contract to build the cable was signed with Alcatel Submarine Networks at the end of last year. South Africa has access to various undersea cables. Along the eastern Africa coastline, there are the Seacom cable built in 2009 and the SAT-3/SAFE (South Africa Far East cable) which is older. The WACS (West Africa Cable System), supported by MTN, was completed in 2012.

Recently, the Wall Street Journal reported on Facebook’s plans to build an underwater data cable that would encircle Africa. The group wants to lower data costs, and hopes to sign up more users in the process. The project is apparently named Simba, after “The Lion King”. Google’s new cable will be called “Equiano”, named for Olaudah Equiano, a Nigerian-born writer and abolitionist who was enslaved as a boy,

In the second phase of the project, the cable will be extended to Nigeria. Google says it is “looking forward to working with licensed partners to bring Equiano’s capacity to even more countries across the African continent”. While Google has only funded two other undersea cables, it has partnered with others on more than a dozen projects.

For more information from Google, click here. You can view the planned route for Equiano in the first image below, and all of Google’s subsea cable investments in the second image.

 

For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email marketing@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.

Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].