Kennel Keeper
30th Mar 2004, 05:38
From todays Argus Cape Town
South Africa's first low-cost international airline will be ready for take-off by the end of this year and will offer direct flights to London from Cape Town followed by flights from Durban soon afterwards.
The announcement was made on Monday at the Aviation Development Workshop for KwaZulu-Natal.
CIVAIR.com took five years to obtain an international air licence and now has approval to fly return flights to England, Greece and Spain.
The Cape Town-based company plans to launch its operations from Cape Town by year's end with three flights from the city a week, followed at a later stage with two flights from
Durban to Stanstead airport.
'The only companies making progress and growing are those that offer low fares'
"We have two Boeing 747s for the route, but aircraft we're using in Cape Town can't get off runways in Durban due to runway length problems, so we're looking at alternative aircraft."
"If this can't be arranged, we'll have to consider using a smaller plane and have a refuelling stop," said Andy Cluver, managing director for CIVAIR.
The company will operate on a low-cost basis and (with existing exchange rates) economy class fares are expected to start from under R2 000 to a maximum of R4 000 (on an early bookings/cheaper rates basis and excluding all meals and perks). Business class fares are expected to cost up to a maximum of R16 000 (including all meals and perks). Both fares are one-way and exclude airport tax.
According to the Airports Company South Africa, passenger numbers have been growing. A nine percent growth is expected by the end of this month, of which 98 percent will be domestic passengers.
Local domestic flyers Kulula.com and 1Time airlines say no-frills, low-fare airways are the latest trend.
"In South Africa there are 40 million people and of that number two million (about five percent) travel domestic every year. If we can grow this to about six percent or seven percent, we can reach a good market. And this is done through low costs.
"There's enough coming out of the local market to sustain a low-fare airline," said Gideon Norvick, commercial director for Kulula.com.
Low-fair airline 1Time was launched in January and the company says in its first four weeks of operating it averaged 90 percent of capacity.
Glen Orsmond, CEO of 1Time airlines said: "The world trend in the industry is low-fare airlines. The only companies making progress and growing are those that offer low fares and the formula for low fares is low costs," he said.
The airlines said that cutting costs through services like online booking, selling food and commodities on board, call
centres and other factors contribute greatly to lower fares.
From marginal helicopters to 747's. Are they also going to be maintained out on the tarmac from a hut at Cape Town International ??
South Africa's first low-cost international airline will be ready for take-off by the end of this year and will offer direct flights to London from Cape Town followed by flights from Durban soon afterwards.
The announcement was made on Monday at the Aviation Development Workshop for KwaZulu-Natal.
CIVAIR.com took five years to obtain an international air licence and now has approval to fly return flights to England, Greece and Spain.
The Cape Town-based company plans to launch its operations from Cape Town by year's end with three flights from the city a week, followed at a later stage with two flights from
Durban to Stanstead airport.
'The only companies making progress and growing are those that offer low fares'
"We have two Boeing 747s for the route, but aircraft we're using in Cape Town can't get off runways in Durban due to runway length problems, so we're looking at alternative aircraft."
"If this can't be arranged, we'll have to consider using a smaller plane and have a refuelling stop," said Andy Cluver, managing director for CIVAIR.
The company will operate on a low-cost basis and (with existing exchange rates) economy class fares are expected to start from under R2 000 to a maximum of R4 000 (on an early bookings/cheaper rates basis and excluding all meals and perks). Business class fares are expected to cost up to a maximum of R16 000 (including all meals and perks). Both fares are one-way and exclude airport tax.
According to the Airports Company South Africa, passenger numbers have been growing. A nine percent growth is expected by the end of this month, of which 98 percent will be domestic passengers.
Local domestic flyers Kulula.com and 1Time airlines say no-frills, low-fare airways are the latest trend.
"In South Africa there are 40 million people and of that number two million (about five percent) travel domestic every year. If we can grow this to about six percent or seven percent, we can reach a good market. And this is done through low costs.
"There's enough coming out of the local market to sustain a low-fare airline," said Gideon Norvick, commercial director for Kulula.com.
Low-fair airline 1Time was launched in January and the company says in its first four weeks of operating it averaged 90 percent of capacity.
Glen Orsmond, CEO of 1Time airlines said: "The world trend in the industry is low-fare airlines. The only companies making progress and growing are those that offer low fares and the formula for low fares is low costs," he said.
The airlines said that cutting costs through services like online booking, selling food and commodities on board, call
centres and other factors contribute greatly to lower fares.
From marginal helicopters to 747's. Are they also going to be maintained out on the tarmac from a hut at Cape Town International ??