Flights to S Africa, Kenya to increase

Australia has agreed to new airline arrangements allowing improved access to South Africa and Kenya.

Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said the new arrangements would enable Australian and African airlines to take advantage of the growing tourism and commerce opportunities between the countries.

He said the new arrangements between Kenya and Australia would open the way for Australian travellers to access East Africa and increased the potential for new airlines to serve Australia.

"Open codeshare arrangements will help Australian and Kenyan airlines to pursue new and innovative ways to serve the developing East African market," Mr Albanese said in a statement.

"Australian and Kenyan airlines will also be able to operate daily services between Kenya and Australia, with the four major gateways of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth open for flight services.

"The arrangements will also allow for unrestricted capacity to regional international airports such as Cairns and Darwin."

Mr Albanese said the Australia-South Africa aviation market had been growing an average of 7.3 per cent over 2004-2007 and the new arrangements would facilitate continued growth.

"The new air services arrangements with South Africa provide Australian and South African airlines with significant expansion opportunities, and provide for additional competition in this market," he said.

"These new arrangements also remove capacity constraints which have existed in the Australia-South Africa market for some time."

He said the number of weekly frequencies available to Australian airlines for services to Johannesburg, Capetown and Durban would immediately double from five to 10.

"Four more weekly services will become available from October 2009, and triple daily services will be possible from October 2010," Mr Albanese said.

"Capacity available to South African airlines will undergo a similar phased increase to a total of 21 services a week from October 2010.

"This capacity can be operated to and from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth."

He said the new arrangements also allowed airlines of both sides to operate between Australia's and South Africa's regional international airports with unrestricted capacity.

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