Delta Air Lines recently announced plans to launch flights to Cape Town, South Africa. Not so fast, says United Airlines, which has asked the U.S. Department of Transportation to award the slots to itself so it can launch new service to Cape Town from Washington Dulles. Who should receive these slots?
Delta Air Lines And United Airlines Both Want The Same Slots To Cape Town, South Africa
In a regulatory filing released on Friday, United Airlines proposes year-round, 3x-weekly, new service between Washington Dulles (IAD) and Cape Town (CPT) starting on November 17, 2022. The flight would operate according to the following schedule:
- Washington (IAD) – Cape Town (CPT), 6:30PM – 4:15PM+1
- Cape Town (CPT) – Washington Dulles (IAD), 9:00PM – 6:00AM+1
The problem for United? Only four unused slots remain and Delta has already requested three of them for its Atlanta (ATL) to Cape Town service.
The USA and South Africa do not have an Open Skies agreement. Instead, a bilateral agreement governs air service between the two nations and currently limits the number of flights per week (a limit to protect entrenched flag carrier South Africa Airways, which is not even currently operating to the United States).
United figures it won’t get 3/4 open slots, and has suggested that DOT split the baby and award two slots to Delta and two to United. It further argues that the new route would facilitate government-to-government connections and provide more competition against Delta, which has offered more service than any other U.S. carrier to Africa for many years. Finally, United points out that (unlike Delta) it has partnered with Airlink to provide onward connections to over a dozen cities.
Arguably, this makes sense because if Delta was awarded all three slots, United would be unlikely to operate the flight once per week. Second, United is proposing to fly to Cape Town year-round from Dulles, while the Delta service would be seasonal.
The ideal solution for consumers—and frankly for South Africa—is that more slots be allocated. It would be great to see both Delta and United add three flights per week, especially as South African Airways no longer serves Washington Dulles or New York JFK.
CONCLUSION
United wants to fly nonstop from Washington to Cape Town, arguing its route should have precedence over Delta’s proposed route from Atlanta to Cape Town. The DOT must now decide whether to award the remaining slots to Delta, United, or award each carrier two slots. Delta has not responded to United’s latest new route request.
image: Delta
Real solution is Open Skies, not this government coddling bs.
I think you are making an incorrect assumption when you claim that the current BASA frequency restrictions are intended to protect SAA.
You might be surprised to know that SAA was one of the groups lobbying their own Government to negotiate an open skies agreement with the USA, mainly because the existing BASA put a lot of restrictions on SA carriers with regards to codeshares, etc.. However, the SA Government as a matter of policy was opposed to open skies agreements and it went nowhere. As a result, both sides are still stuck trying to apply the terms of a 1990s agreement to a 2020s world. 21 frequencies for each side was a lot of capacity back in the 1990s and nobody came close to touching it until now – hardly indicative of protectionism.
It is a less a case of protecting anyone than it is the legacy socialist mindset of a bureaucracy which wants to regulate everything rather than allow market forces to dictate how things run. Aviation is hardly unique in the South African economy in that sense, even though this kind of policymaking often hurts their own stakeholders rather than protects them. For example, if a South African airline wants to open a new international route they have to apply to the International Air Service Council for a license. Unfortunately, the term of the last council expired during COVID and the Minister of Transport has failed to appoint a new council, nor extend the term of the previous council. As a result, there is no IASC in place at present and therefore no South African carrier (not SAA, not Airlink, not Safair, not Comair, nobody) can apply for traffic rights to open up a new route. Foreign carriers are able to open up new routes to SA, but not the other way around. This is also a potential stumbling block for the Government’s own planned transaction to sell a majority stake in SAA.
When it comes to the South African government, there is never a need to attribute ulterior motive to any action when the simply assumption of sheer incompetence could explain it.
Amazoning insight!
So you’re saying you have no idea how this works?
How are slots for routes like these created? What is the purpose of having slots? Why not simply create enough slots to accommodate the frequency airlines want to serve the market?
The terms under which airlines from different countries may fly international flights to and from another country are agreed under a treaty known as a Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA). BASAs incorporate the different “freedoms of the air” on a reciprocal basis as laid out during the Chicago Convention of 1944. This ranges from the most basic first freedom right (the right to fly over a foreign country without landing) to the most liberal (“open skies”).
The agreement between the US and South Africa was signed in the 1990s and includes the rights for 21 frequencies (NOT slots – slots are a different thing altogether and are not addressed in BASAs at intergovernmental level) operated by airlines from each side. There are also other conditions contained in the BASA such as how the flights may be routed (ie. nonstop or via intermediate points and if so which), codeshare agreements, etc..
It is a complex document which the US side has refused to renegotiate over the last decade and more unless the South African side agreed to discuss an open skies agreement, which they were not amenable to do. The status quo was not an issue for the US side as they were only utilizing a fraction of their allocated rights until now.
Thank you!
And the winner is…United, because “United is proposing to fly to Cape Town year-round from Dulles”.
Two more reasons United should win? My wife and I are both 1Ks with United and would prefer to fly with UA to SA.
I would award United 100% of the slots they are requesting on the basis that they want to fly year round. That being said the award would be conditional on that fact and would be vacated if they went seasonal vice year round.