Johannesburg — DESPITE a sharp contraction in the global airline industry, three airlines are so bullish about SA's prospects that they are about to add, or have added, more flights on their South African routes.

Qatar Airways added two extra flights a week in August and a further flight this month, giving the airline a daily flight between Johannesburg and Doha, with four of the services continuing onto Cape Town.

British Airways, meanwhile, will add five flights to its existing double-daily schedule between Johannesburg and London from March next year to offer 19 flights a week.

It will also double its seven weekly flights between Cape Town and London from the end of this month until March next year .

Also, Lufthansa will be reinstating its seasonal daily flight to Cape Town from next week.

Speaking at the opening of the airline's new lounges at OR Tambo International Airport yesterday, British Airways chairman Martin Broughton said that while the carrier had cut its global flying programme by 3%, it had retained the flexibility to respond to market demand.

"The immediate outlook for our South African routes is reasonably encouraging and the 2010 World Cup should bolster demand from at least mid-2009," he said.

Gregory Epps, Qatar Airways' area manager for SA, said that the airline always took a long-term view at the planning stage of route development.

"While the recent drop in the value of the rand will affect business, the downside in SA may well be the catalyst for higher foreign arrivals into the country, especially so now that summer has arrived.

"Business travel to our part of the globe has not been particularly affected, and demand for cargo shipments from SA is as strong as ever," Epps said.

Broughton said that the combination of oil prices, which have averaged $100 a barrel since the start of the year, declining demand and a fall in consumer confidence had created a "perfect storm" that had caused five UK airlines and about 30 others around the world to go out of business.

Last month the International Air Transport Association (Iata) said it expected the global airline industry to post losses of $5,2bn this year.

"The situation remains bleak. The toxic combination of high oil prices and falling demand continues to poison the industry's profitability," Iata director-g eneral and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said.