Demand drives more direct flights from Perth to Tokyo and Johannesburg

WA’s direct connections to the world are proving popular, with one major airline increasing its flights to South Africa off the back of increased demand. As the Government prepares to welcome the first direct flights from Tokyo under a new deal this week, South African Airways will announce additional weekly flights to Johannesburg from Perth. Operating three flights between South Africa and WA a week, the airline will add an extra weekly flight ahead of Christmas at the start of December, to meet increased demand. A fifth weekly flight will be added at the start of the new year. Ahead of the arrival of Air Nippon Airways new flights to Tokyo this week, Tourism Minister Rita Saffioti welcomed the news of the additional direct connections. ANA will run three flights a week direct to the Japanese capital — bringing an extra 17,000 seats into Perth. “We’ve made aviation a huge priority for our Government, not just for tourism but for business and investment opportunities as well and are really pleased to now have direct links with 20 different international destinations,” she said. “It’s exciting to welcome back the direct flight between Tokyo and Perth, given Japan is one of our top 10 tourism markets for visitation and spend. “Equally, it’s fantastic to see such huge demand for the services between Johannesburg and Perth, particularly given South Africa is one of our biggest inbound markets for travellers visiting their friends and relatives.” The flights come after the World Travel and Tourism Council revealed in a report that Perth was the only Australian city to record growth in the number of inbound seats on pre-pandemic levels. While Perth had seen flights grow by 9 per cent on 2019 levels, all other major Australian capitals — including Sydney, remained between five and eight per cent lower than before the pandemic. It follows almost 20 direct flight deals secured by the Government since the opening of WA’s pandemic-era hard border, with Ms Saffioti saying it had boosted tourism, business and investment opportunities. Perth is also preparing to welcome back China Southern’s direct flights between Guangzhou and Perth in November while China Eastern Airlines will fly between Shanghai and Perth for the Chinese New Year. At the summit, Ms Saffioti said the Government’s priority continued to secure a direct flight with India, with “India continues to be our number one priority. We’ve targeted, met and discussed this with a number of the Indian airlines, and with Qantas, with Jetstar, with anyone,” she said. “We’re very keen to get those direct flights into India.” Travel demands from India and China’s booming middle classes lean heavily on efficiency and ease of travel, something Ms Saffioti said the Government was eager to tackle with the direct flights given WA’s isolated position.