767's. My aunt and uncle used them to visit us in Cape Town, I'm guessing around 2008/9? I think they lasted just a couple of seasons
Yes, FlyGlobespan just flew the 2006 and 2007 CPT summer seasons.
CPT
was booming for holidaymakers coming from the UK, Holland, Ireland, and Germany in the late Nineties & Noughties escaping the Northern winter.
BA had 2 747's a day. B58/59 BA42/43
SAA had a daily 747 until 2012, SA221/SA223 once called the Springbok Service - Blue Diamond First Class, and Gold/Silver Class in Y. At Xmas & holiday peaks sometimes 2 daily 747.
Virgin often used a 747 on the route in the high/peak season. VS603/4
Lufty had 747's going down there during the peak 'summer' season from FRA before the A340-300 took over.
MUC direct was added with A340-600, SAA also did this route too with A340-600.
KLM flew 747's from AMS down to CPT before the 777 took over.
Swissair used their MD-11.
LTU and Condor had both long served the popular seasonal sunshine KaapStad route for German tourists.
Condor still do CPT from FRA. 767
Thomas Cook UK had a go with LGW to CPT 3 weekly in the recent seasons using the A330-200
Edelwiess fly from Zurich seasonal. A340
Air France still flies from CDG seasonal. 777
Civair based in Cape Town, in March 2004, an attempt was made at starting up an airline flying between Cape Town and London Stansted, a ‘low cost’ service with paid catering and IFE planning to serve the route three times a week with a Boeing 747-267B, G-CCMA ex G-VCAT, to become ZS-PJH for Civair NTU. I don't think the 747 got painted.
In December 2004, with about 7,400 passengers booked, it transpired that Civair did not have an aircraft available for the flights, nor did it have the funding to offer any alternatives.
No authority had yet been received from UK for landing rights either. Amidst the public relations disaster that followed, partial refunds were given to passengers who purchased tickets on their website, civair.com, their only ticket outlet.
None of the passengers were ever officially notified of the cancellations. Early in 2005, the company's director Andy Cluver, together with Kobus Nell, the organization's accountant, were called to account for Civair's actions by the CAA in South Africa.
I had friends booked on Civair - it was cheap, and the first flights saw some lucky booked pax re-protected and put on BA, SAA and Virgin.
A pal coming to visit me in CPT was really distraught and I managed to get him a BA hotline ticket instead, and on arrival off his BA43 we went to the Civair office around the corner, to demand his money back - lucky for him they issued a money draft which we cashed PDQ at the bank that same morning!
Another CPT fail was
AV8 Air.
Established in 2003 as Man-Air, as a subsidiary of tour operator HCCT/CT2 LOCO flights and began operations with a low-cost long-haul flight Manchester to Cape Town using a Boeing 767-383ER aircraft with 28C and 254Y seats. AV8 operated the 767 on a damp lease basis from Icelandair until their own AOC was granted from the UK CAA. Their call sign was Pennine, but soon changed to Ringway.
CT2 Club Travel also sold
direct DUB-CPT flights to the
booming Irish holiday market.
Unfortunately, due to a lack of an ATOL bond, the AOC was revoked. The airline ceased trading after only one season.
Passengers who had booked
'direct' non-stop MAN-CPT flights only to find out once they got on board that they were in fact to fly via DUB,
and then a fuel up stop at PMI !
There was another attempt by CT2 to start up with
Air Scandic to operate the CPT flights with an ex MyTravel DC-10 30 that had just been retired, but this came to nothing.
LTU would later pick up the DUB-CPT flights.
FlyGlobespan's MAN-CPT attempt came along in 2006 to fly there 3 x weekly seasonal only.
The 767-300s were formerly operated by Air New Zealand and Flyglobespan opted not to remove the 24 business class seats with 50in pitch. There was also a 60-seat premium economy section with 34in pitch, in addition to 162 regular economy seats with 32in pitch. The food and on-board service offerings on GSM's long haul were excellent in all classes.
The route ended after the 2007 CPT summer season.
Some of the best flights I have ever had were all on 747's to/from LHR and CPT -
Virgin J in the nose - just me, no one else. Staff Travel on Boxing Day on the day flight back to LHR from CPT - was like my own private jet, gazing down at the Namibian sand dunes, then the wonders of the Sahara with 4 lovely Virgin girls looking after me!
BA J in the Upper Deck overnight down to CPT - After waking up to the smell of a wonderful full English, I really did not want to get off...
SAA in J overnight to CPT, wonderful huge armchair sleeper seats in J, soft plump pillows and white linens, with a dinner service to die for, like a classy London Hotel.
Could have been in First really.
BA back to LHR BA58 on staff travel - CPT check-in was jam packed that evening, with loads of hopeful non-revs, plus a delayed BA 42 from the morning also going out at the same time, but I knew the lovely BA ladies there (sadly all BA staff there now long gone) and she produced a boarding card in row 24 for a very nice Y bulkhead seat with no-one next to me.
Big wide comfy old style seats and endless leg room. A nice dinner then shut-eye....
Bliss!