A 37hr flight to Durban - but is it still cheaper than driving?

If you take into consideration, maintenance, fuel, and toll fees, it is much cheaper to fly to Cape Town or Durban than to drive there. Picture: Supplied

If you take into consideration, maintenance, fuel, and toll fees, it is much cheaper to fly to Cape Town or Durban than to drive there. Picture: Supplied

Published Jun 10, 2022

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Yes, we have been through a lot as a nation. In recent years we’ve dealt with the pandemic, looting, load shedding, and now a spike in fuel prices.

South Africa has now reached a point where it’s R23.52 per litre of petrol and over R22 per litre of diesel, depending where you choose to fill up. With that being said, what do you think would be the best way to travel, by car or by flying?

Combined, Comair, which operated Kulula and local and regional British Airways flights, was South Africa’s second-largest operator. Therefore, their exit significantly impacts South African aviation, primarily domestically.

Kulula was purely domestic, whereas, Comair had three international routes: Johannesburg to Harare, Mauritius, and Victoria Falls.

The costs of domestic flights, 18 hours or more. Pictures: Google screenshots

Due to fuel prices affecting so many people’s pockets, flying still turns out to be an affordable option.

If you take into consideration, maintenance, fuel, and toll fees, it is much cheaper to fly to Cape Town or Durban than to drive there.

In both cases, the price of a flight is less than half of driving – meaning that even if you take a passenger on your road trip, you will still be paying more.

Taking on the journey with your vehicle, for instance, travelling from Johannesburg to Durban, will take you at least six hours, and 15 hours to travel to Cape Town.

Travelling from Cape Town to Durban via a low fuel consumption car, will cost you at least, R3 500 based on the kilometres, and that’s just one way. A return ticket for the same distance is, with FlySafair, is approximate, for one person, R2 700.

Flights, will take less time, obviously, approximately one and two hours. Take into the factor that flying is also considerably safer.

According to a statement by MyBroadband, unless there are more than three or more people travelling with you to help pay fees, flying to these locations is usually the better option.