Cape Town getting its first direct flight to Australia
Qantas has announced a new nonstop flight between Cape Town and Australia, which will launch in 2027.
The new route will begin operating in October 2027 and run until March 2028, through the Southern Hemisphere’s summer months.
The first flight will take off on 19 October 2027, operating until 24 March 2028 with three flights per week on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.
The Cape Town flight is not Qantas’s first nonstop option between Australia and South Africa; the group already operates two nonstop flights to Johannesburg.
Currently, two direct flights from Johannesburg to Sydney and Perth are operated by Qantas, with the new route flying from Sydney.
This new flight to the Mother City will add approximately 30,000 seats between South Africa and Australia, made possible by the addition of new aircraft to Qantas’ fleet.
Qantas said the new route comes as demand from Australians to visit South Africa continues to grow in recent years.
“More than 120,000 Australians visited South Africa in 2025, with demand continuing to grow,” the airline said.
“In June this year, Australia overtook Germany to become South Africa’s third-largest overseas source market, with arrivals up 19 per cent year on year.”
The group also cited Australia’s large community of South African emigrants as a reason for the additional direct flight.
“The route will also bring families and friends closer together, with almost 225,000 South African-born people calling Australia home and around a quarter of them residing in New South Wales,” Qantas said.
The group’s international CEO, Cam Wallace, said Australians are increasingly wanting to visit Cape Town, with strong demand to see the city.
“Cape Town is a true bucket-list city and Australia’s appetite to visit has never been stronger,” he said.
“Each year, tens of thousands of customers use our existing Johannesburg services to connect to Cape Town through our partner airline, Airlink, so we know there’s strong demand for a non-stop service.”
Australia’s Minister for Trade and Tourism, Don Farrell, added that the new flight gives international travellers from both South Africa and Australia more travel options.
“This is the first direct link between Australia and Cape Town and is a fantastic outcome for our tourism industry,” he said.
“More planes in the sky means more options for Australian travellers and exporters, and of course international visitors to explore our wonderful sights.”
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