Cape Town Executive Mayor Alderman Dan Plato was on hand last week to welcome the inaugural Etihad flight from Abu Dhabi to Cape Town.

Etihad, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will fly to Cape Town on a daily basis throughout the year, filling a major gap during the peak season and stimulating traffic from the Middle East during the winter low season. The new arrangement has the potential to bring 48 000 visitors to the city annually.

Plato said he was very pleased that Etihad is to be a daily visitor to Africa's leading tourism destination: "This flight into Cape Town is a very important initiative for destination Cape Town."

According to Mansoor Mohamed, Executive Director for Economic, Social Development and Tourism, the City of Cape Town has a strategy to position Cape Town as a globally competitive tourism destination.

"The introduction of another airline to Cape Town means more tourists and therefore more jobs for the people of Cape Town. The City will continue to partner with airlines such as Etihad that will help build our city into a more globally competitive business and leisure destination," he noted.

Etihad will promote the new Cape Town route throughout its network, which will boost tourism, business ties and investment in the city and region.

"South Africa is a leading global destination of choice for tourism and commerce and we are thrilled to launch a daily service to Cape Town," said Etihad Airways chief executive James Hogan.

"In addition to the strong demand for flights from expatriate South African nationals, business and leisure travellers, many thousands of football fans are expected to travel there next year when South Africa hosts the 2010 FIFA World Cup™," he added.

The daily flights to Cape Town will operate via Etihad's current daily Airbus A330 service to Johannesburg. This service started in December 2005, and is one of the airline's most successful destinations.