Qatar Airways says increased flights to Cape Town will help restore 80% of its ore-war weekly frequencies to the Mother City.

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Middle East carrier Qatar Airways will increase its weekly flights to Cape Town next month, as it looks to restore its pre-Iran war service frequency to South Africa.

The airline has been recovering since March, when it was forced to navigate airspace closures and a limited schedule on several major routes due to the US-Israel war on Iran.

According to the FlightRadar24 Gulf airline recovery index, the Doha-based airline operated 352 flights on 17 May and 369 on 18 May, compared with the 583 global flights it operated on 27 February – a day before the war broke out.

READ | Qatar Airways announces limited March flight schedule as airspace remains closed

In a statement this week, Qatar Airways said it would increase weekly flights to Cape Town from seven to 10 on 16 June.

In the same announcement, it said it would increase weekly flights to several destinations on the continent, including Alexandria and Cairo in Egypt, Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, Seychelles, and Kigali in Rwanda. It will also operate one daily flight to Marrakesh in Morocco from 1 July.

The regional route between Lusaka (Zambia) and Harare (Zimbabwe) will also see more weekly flights, as will the route between Maputo (Mozambique) and Durban.

The airline is also launching three weekly flights to Port Sudan from 2 July.

Qatar Airways told News24 that the added flights to Cape Town would restore 80% of its flight frequencies to SA. The airline said it would continue to build its route network to 160 destinations.

“Prior to 28 February, Qatar Airways operated 39 weekly flights to South Africa, including 18 flights per week to Johannesburg, 14 flights per week to Cape Town, and seven flights per week to Durban. With this announcement, operations equate to 31 flights per week, including 14 flights per week to Johannesburg, 10 flights per week to Cape Town, and seven flights per week to Durban,” it said in written correspondence.

“The resumption of flights and measured frequency adjustments reflect Qatar Airways’ strategic, phased global network restoration that balances sustainable growth with rising demand for air travel connectivity and trade.”