PE to Cape Town flight bookings qualify to earn travel vouchers - simply email a review of your flight and photos to cheapflights@southafrica.to and we'll send you vouchers. |
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Car hire options at Cape Town are Budget rent a car, Europcar Cape Town, Avis car hire, Hertz car rental, First Car Rental, Tempest car hire & Thrifty car rental. Looking for accommodation in Cape Town? Staying in Bantry Bay at the Compass House comes recommended. Enjoy the views whilst basking in their sunset pool with something cold in your hand. |
Cheap Flights from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town
Things weren't looking good for Port Elizabeth to Cape Town flights when first Kulula stopped flying the route, followed by 1time Airline going into liquidation, and for a while there was no no low cost carrier. Then Mango PE to CPT flights were launched as well as FlySafair PE to Cape Town flights. Mango however has cancelled their CPT - PLZ flights. Their last flight took off on the 15th of October 2015. Nowadays we are in the relatively happy position of having the choice of 3 full service carriers (British Airways Comair or SA Express) and 1 budget airline (FlySafair).
On the PE-CPT route, FlySafair uses B737-400s which seats 158 passengers, British Airways uses B737s, and SA Express uses Q400 Bombardier Turboprops (DH4s) which seat only 78 passengers. So it's a substantially different ride with SA Express to Cape Town, as they're using a smaller & slower plane than Mango, FlySafair & BA.
airlines |
news |
bus/train |
Port Elizabeth to Cape Town flights take 75m with British Airways, 85m with Mango Airlines + FlySafair and 100m with SA Express in their slower DH4s. This compares to about 8 hours drive time, so assuming 2 hours at, to and from airports, going by plane saves you some 4.5 hours (a bit more if you stop along the way on your drive).
Airlines
We carried out a snapshot survey of PE to CT flights & ordered the airlines from the cheapest at the top (the order may well have changed since). Note that even though Mango and FlySafair Airlines are the low cost carriers on the route, they are not always the cheapest, and one must check their fares against those of British Airways flights to PE & SA Express.
Airlines |
Airports |
Stops |
|---|---|---|
Port Elizabeth to Cape Town International Airport (CPT) |
non-stop (85m) |
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British Airways |
Port Elizabeth to Cape Town International Airport (CPT) |
non-stop (75m) |
Mango (cancelled all flights from October 15, 2015. |
Port Elizabeth to Cape Town International Airport (CPT) |
non-stop (85m) |
Port Elizabeth to Cape Town International Airport (CPT) |
non-stop (100m) |
(if you're flying in the opposite direction, see our Cape Town to Port Elizabeth flights page)
Overland
A drive by car from PE to Cape Town is rather simple, as it's just along the N2 National Road, and is 746km, which would take you about 8 hours. Alternatives are to veer off the N2 and onto the R60 via Worcester (760km & also about 8 hours) or go via Oudthoorn and onto the N1 (816km and takes just over 9 hours).
By bus or train
If you don't want to drive yourself, you can catch a bus trip from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town:
The Intercape bus operates a traditional bus service across a vast network of South Africa and some of its neighbouring countries. |
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Baz Bus operates a hop-on hop-off bus tour across South Africa, and is especially popular amongst backpackers. |
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Travel in luxury - from 5 Dec 2008, Premier Classe trains have been operating between PE & Cape Town. They subsequently stopped. |
News
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30 October 2014. FlySafair launched their flights between PE and CPT today. Seats are selling out fast on FlySafair so if you are looking at flying between CPT and PE on FlySafair then you should be booking sooner rather than later.
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29 Jul 2014. FlySafair is finally relaunching with scheduled flights between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth kicking off on the 30th of October 2014.
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5 Dec 2012. Mango Port Elizabeth to Cape Town flights commence, with flight JE623 leaveing PLZ at 08h55 and arrive in CPT at 10h20.
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2 Nov 2011. 1time airline announces it will be filing for liquidation, and its last PLZ-CPT flight is flown.
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4 Nov 2011. Velvet Sky commences Port Elizabeth to Cape Town flights on Fridays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Opening price is R309. The would stop flying the route in early 2012 and go into final liquidation in June 2012.
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27 Mar 2011. Comair Limited changed from flying Kulula aircraft to British Airways aircraft on the PLZ-CPT route.
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1888. A group of cyclists ride from PE to Cape Town on their penny farthings.
CPT transfer & shuttle services
There are a number of companies offering CPT transfer services. We like EZ Shuttle and Bettina Shuttle Services.
