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A few weeks ago it was confirmed (here) that Plettenberg Bay Airport was completely shut down, following a maintenance inspection by the CAA.

The shutdown was deemed heavy-handed by the local flying community, as the airport maintenance issues in question only affected larger aircraft, like those flown by CemAir – however, the runway is still perfectly safe for smaller aircraft.

After an appeal by owners, Garden Route AERO, Plettenberg Bay Airport was first de-registered and has now been re-registered as a ‘Category 2’ airport.

The result of this is that CemAir (requiring ‘Category 5’) will not be able to operate until runway upgrades have been completed. It is unlikely these upgrades will be completed before 2025, as per a CemAir press release yesterday:

Cape Winelands-based ‘Air du Cap’ expects to be operating and available for both business and leisure travellers flying to Plettenberg Bay from Cape Town and surrounds. Cape Winelands Airport is only 30 minutes from Cape Town’s CBD, 35 minutes from Newlands, 25 minutes from Val de Vie and 40 minutes from Franschhoek.

The Air du Cap online booking engine shows prices at around R30k for the Beechcraft Baron aircraft from Cape Winelands to Plettenberg Bay, which offers seating up for up to 5 passengers, with air conditioning, Bose headsets and high-speed device chargers. The price charged is for the whole aircraft.

 

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Air du Cap CEO, Will Mellor had this to say:

“We’re very excited about taking over the reins from CemAir for travellers heading to Plett from Cape Town. We currently hold an Air Service License and have completed our inspection phase for our Air Operator Certificate with the CAA. We are working closely with the CAA and hope to be in action by October.

Our instant booking system will offer online payments once this happens, so for now we are offering pre-bookings, with the resultant per-head price (4-5 passengers) for Cape Town to Plett being on par with CemAir’s peak season pricing. Please note our pricing is for the whole aircraft. Once we receive our Air Operator Certificate we will be able to secure those pre-bookings with a deposit and issue charter tickets.

While we do include Cape Town International Airport as a departure/arrival airport (with a small surcharge), we hope our passengers’ exposure to the Cape Winelands Airport (Air du Cap’s home base) will create conversation about the exciting developments taking place there. (More on that here).

We will be able to do two trips a day between Cape Town and Plett and have already received a number of pre-booking requests. We encourage passengers to secure their dates soon to avoid disappointment when pre-bookings are finalised.”

HOW TO PRE-BOOK: Simply make a booking on the Air du Cap instant booking system (here) and when you click ‘PAY’ you will receive a pre-booking confirmation message on the screen and via email to your inbox. 

 

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With an emphasis on safety and comfort, at an accessible price point, Air du Cap offers flights throughout the Western, Eastern and Northern Cape. Perfect for travellers to the likes of Graaff-Reinet, George, Shamwari, Bushman’s Kloof and the Wild Coast. Destinations like Prince Albert and Fryer’s Cove in Doring Bay have suddenly become viable day trips, whilst business travellers throughout the Karoo and beyond are able to travel to a meeting and back on the same day.

Go to AIRDUCAP.COM to see their offering and pre-book flights to a large number of small airports, via their online booking engine.

HOW TO PRE-BOOK: Simply make a booking on the Air du Cap instant booking system (here) and when you click ‘PAY’ you will receive a pre-booking confirmation message on the screen and via email to your inbox. 

Looking forward to a pint of prawns at The Deck.