QANTAS TO LAUNCH FIRST NON-STOP FLIGHTS BETWEEN AUSTRALIA AND CAPE TOWN | aviationbizz.com
Australians will soon be able to fly non-stop to Cape Town for the first time, with Qantas today announcing a new seasonal service between Sydney and South Africa’s Mother City.
On sale today, the direct flights will take off in October 2027 and run through Cape Town’s summer months until March 20281. Together with Qantas’ existing direct services from Perth and Sydney to Johannesburg, the new route will give customers more choice when travelling between Australia and South Africa.
Once launched, it will add almost 30,000 seats between Australia and South Africa and is made possible by the introduction of new Qantas 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft arriving in late 2027 as part of the largest fleet renewal in the airline’s history.
The new route comes 75 years after Qantas operated its first scheduled passenger service to South Africa. In 1952, the Wallaby Route to Johannesburg took 66 hours via Perth, the Cocos Islands and Mauritius. Next November, customers will be able to leave Sydney in the morning and land in Cape Town the same day.
More than 120,0002 Australians visited South Africa in 2025, with demand continuing to grow. 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 year3. The route will also bring families and friends closer together, with almost 225,000 South African-born people calling Australia home4 and around a quarter of them residing in New South Wales.
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