Cape Town - With luck we shall have FlySafair and another new airline, Flywise, to be started by the original founders of low-cost airline 1time, Rodney James and Glenn Orsmond, competing with low-cost airlines kulula.com and Mango on the route between Cape Town and Joburg soon.
James earlier this year obtained a licence to start Flywise. But as the summer drew nearer and they had still made no arrangements with the airports to handle their flights, I was afraid that news of Safair’s plans to launch a new scheduled airline, in addition to its charter operation that fills in for other airlines in time of need, had made them abandon their plan.
However, Orsmond assured me last week that the delay was because they were still waiting for their operator’s licence, which has taken several months, and have not been deterred by the additional competition. But this has not prevented them from joining Comair in a court action to prevent FlySafair from taking off on the grounds that Safair is owned by an Irish company even though FlySafair is controlled by three South African directors.
FlySafair is already selling tickets, at below the fares charged on the route at present, with the first flights planned for October 17.
Dave Andrew, chief executive of Safair, which was founded nearly 50 years ago, said he was confident its operating licence was valid and also covered FlySafair, which was not a separate company but one of Safair’s brands. He said the three South African directors were the only ones with voting rights on FlySafair.
Meanwhile, I have heard that the Licensing Council has arranged a hearing as a result of Comair and Flywise complaints ahead of the court action for which a date has still to be given.
James and Orsmond have been joined in founding Flywise by Johan Borstlap, former chief executive of the original Sun Air, which was described as offering business class service at economy prices. It was killed off by a price war started by SAA when Coleman Andrews was chief executive. At that time, SAA succeeded in getting rid of effective competition by starting price wars against several start-up airlines, before the existence of an effective Competition Commission. It has since paid heavy fines to the commission for doing so – which has simply meant transferring money from one government department to another but has added to SAA’s financial difficulties.
Regional routes
London-based low-cost airline Fastjet, which cancelled earlier plans to start a service between Cape Town and Joburg, in order to start one between Dar es Salaam and Joburg, in competition with SAA, was prevented from doing so by administrative difficulties at the last minute. A spokesman said it had been faced with an unexpected demand from the Department of Transport for documentation at the last minute. It had provided the documentation promptly but was then told that it would take several days to process, obliging it with no alternative but to postpone the inaugural flight late last month. It has refunded the fares paid and offered complimentary flights to the disappointed passengers when the service is launched.
However Fastjet has made no secret of the fact that it aims to become a low-cost pan-African airline, competing with SAA, which has made it a priority to enlarge its African network in line with government policy. Fastjet chairman and chief executive Ed Winter said routes from South Africa to sub-Saharan countries were under-served and overpriced and “ready for an alternative to the cosy relationship between SAA and the respective national carrier of each country”. One cannot help wondering if the Department of Transport is being less than helpful to Fastjet as a result.
Luftansa spreads orders
German airline Lufthansa has pleased Airbus and Boeing with recent orders. It has committed itself to buying up to 55 Airbus extra wide-bodied aircraft for its long-haul fleet, of which 25 are firm orders for the A350-900 with the option to change the next 25 to larger A350 1000s.
Boeing has welcomed Lufthansa’s selection of its 777-9X, with about 400 seats, for its long-haul fleet. Boeing is targeting the launch of the new plane for later this year and entry into service at the end of the decade. - Weekend Argus