Intergovernmental Dispute launched over Delta Air Lines route application

Posted by Anita Froneman on 17 March 2022

‘I am disappointed and alarmed by the continued silence of the Minister of Transport, Fikile Mbalula, to the request to urgently grant Delta Air Lines’ application for a triangular route,’ said Western Cape Provincial Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities David Maynier. 

The American carrier has applied to operate a triangular route between Atlanta – Johannesburg – Cape Town, and Maynier said he wrote to Mbalule requesting that this application be processed ‘urgently precisely because tourism is a significant contributor to job creation and economic growth in the Western Cape’. 

Delta has also applied to the US Department of Transportation, aiming to launch an Atlanta-Cape Town service on 18 November 2022, reports Airspace Africa, but cannot move forward without feedback from the South African government.

‘After receiving no substantive response to seven separate letters, over six months, directly from my office to Minister Mbalula, I was left with no choice but to launch an Intergovernmental Dispute in a bid to resolve this urgent matter, on 25 November 2021,’ Maynier added. 

Maynier continued: ‘The Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act, 2005 (Act 13 of 2005) dictates that we must now promptly convene a meeting with the Minister or his representative, in order to:

  • Determine the precise nature of the dispute;
  • Identify available mechanisms or procedures, other than judicial proceedings, that may assist in the settling of the disputes at hand; and
  • Agree on an appropriate mechanism or procedure to settle the disputes at hand and when and how such mechanism or procedure shall be implemented.

According to the Western Cape government’s Official Destination Marketing organisation, Wesgro, the estimated economic losses of this decision could total R420 million and includes:

• R278 million in tourism spending;

• R13 million in landing and passenger fees for Airports Company of South Africa; and

• R130 million in air cargo export value.

In addition, 160 local jobs would be lost for the Western Cape economy.

‘I will continue to apply the necessary pressure to secure this triangular route, for the benefit of the tourism and hospitality sectors in the Western Cape and so that we can get up, get out, push forward and do even better in the Western Cape,’ Maynier concluded. 

Picture: Getaway gallery

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