{"id":875277,"date":"2026-09-14T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=875277"},"modified":"2026-09-14T12:40:37","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T10:40:37","slug":"ramaphosa-says-new-direct-international-flights-are-on-the-cards-for-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/875277\/ramaphosa-says-new-direct-international-flights-are-on-the-cards-for-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Ramaphosa says new direct international flights are on the cards for South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

President Cyril Ramaphosa has confirmed that South Africa is working to restore direct flight routes with India to enhance trade, tourism, and economic partnerships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While speaking at the India-South Africa Business Leadership Roundtable, which took place alongside the BRICS Summit in New Delhi, Ramaphosa said that re-establishing direct air connectivity is crucial for transforming bilateral potential into tangible economic growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Restoring direct flights between South Africa and India would eliminate the need for long layovers in the Middle East or Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramaphosa said that South Africa aims to leverage India\u2019s strengths in pharmaceuticals and health technology to enhance local production of medicines and vaccines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIndia’s strengths in pharmaceuticals and health technology can support our ambition to expand the local production of medicines and vaccines,\u201d said Ramaphosa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramaphosa said that India\u2019s advanced capabilities in information technology, financial technology, and digital public infrastructure can assist South Africa\u2019s growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt has capabilities in information technology, financial technology and digital public infrastructure that can support the modernisation of our own systems and services,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that South Africa can also assist India by providing critical minerals to support India\u2019s growing renewable energy, battery, and automotive sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur endowment of critical minerals can feed India’s fast-growing renewable energy, battery and automotive value chains, while ensuring that more of the processing of these minerals happens on South African soil.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India is now South Africa’s fourth-largest trading partner, with over 150 Indian companies having invested more than $10 billion in the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Direct flights are expected to enhance corporate investments, business travel, and strengthen cooperation between business chambers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“To turn this potential into practical partnerships, we are keen to restore direct flights between South Africa and India,\u201d Ramaphosa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa plans to connect its three main airports to India<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
ACSA Acting Group Manager for Traffic Development, Mpho Rambau<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In September 2025, Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) announced plans to connect the country\u2019s three main international airports with India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SA Tourism Update <\/a>reported that ACSA intends to start by restoring the direct flight between Mumbai and Johannesburg, which accounts for 58% of passenger traffic between the two countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company also plans to connect Mumbai to Cape Town and Durban, and establish a direct route from Delhi to Johannesburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tourism Update also reported that South African Airways (SAA) was aiming <\/strong>to resume operations to India in 2026 after a hiatus of more than 10 years caused by aircraft shortages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, <\/strong>direct nonstop flights have not yet launched. Following the BRICS Summit in New Delhi, President Ramaphosa affirmed that South Africa remains “keen to restore direct flights between South Africa and India.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille has taken steps to strengthen ties between South Africa and India by leading delegations to engage with major Indian airlines, including Air India, IndiGo, and SpiceJet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This effort comes as part of a broader strategy to boost tourism, which currently sees over 126,000 travellers journeying between the two countries each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACSA\u2019s Acting Group Manager for Traffic Development, Mpho Rambau, told Tourism Update that tangible progress has been made in developing the value proposition to encourage airlines to launch direct services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have presented the business case to multiple carriers and are in advanced stages of dialogue with select partners,\u201d said Rambau. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have undertaken in-depth market studies, including traffic flow and passenger demand analysis, to demonstrate the commercial viability. This data-driven approach has been key in building the business case for airlines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agreement between South Africa and India permits 28 weekly flights in each direction, which is more than enough to meet the current demand of over 126,000 annual passengers, according to Rambau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India stands out as one of South African Tourism’s top 15 target markets.\u00a0From January to July 2025, it ranked as the seventh-largest source of visitors, bringing in over 42,600 arrivals.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Cyril Ramaphosa wants to restore direct flights between South Africa and India.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":783499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"failed","_sma_x_autopost_error":"Instagram publishing failed: Instagram returned HTTP 400: Media ID is not available","_sma_x_post_id":"2099453364203389340","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2205190440301355","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[17537,2091,869],"class_list":["post-875277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-airports-company-sa-acsa","tag-brics","tag-india"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875277"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":875314,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875277\/revisions\/875314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}