The Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry has launched Chamber Air, a facilitation service for air travel bookings for unscheduled short-haul routes. The first destination to benefit will be Saldanha Bay. Incorporating the chamber’s network, as well as charter services and the integrated support of all stakeholders, for the first time, short-haul flights of this nature have become economically viable with this unique model. “This may seem an unlikely initiative for a chamber of commerce, but it makes a lot of sense,” said Geoff Jacobs, president of the Cape chamber. “Saldanha and its Industrial Development Zone, for example, will be of great importance to business in the city, and we need to build new and efficient links between these two port destinations.” He said that commercial and freight traffic were expected to grow substantially in the next 10 years, and the existing single-lane road system would be unable to cope, resulting in slow and frustrating journeys by car. “An alternative option would be an air service operating between the private terminal at Cape Town International Airport and Saldanha, not to mention the many benefits that air access brings, such as speed of delivery and investment in infrastructure, as well as additional options for freight companies.” Sid Peimer, executive director of the Cape chamber, emphasised that Chamber Air was not an airline but a facilitation service that leveraged existing resources. It would also be adding more routes nationally in the future. “There is little doubt that short-haul flights will be a growth industry. Cities are growing and there is a need to fly over the urban sprawl and get to destinations more conveniently. Aircraft manufacturers are already designing and flying shortrange electric planes, which will be silent and ideal for this market.”