Cape Town - In Western Europe, domestic and regional airlines compete with fast, comfortable express trains achieving speeds that enable them to reach their destinations almost as quickly as if they flew, but without baggage restrictions or the hassle of going through airport security.
Faced with this, German airline Lufthansa decided 10 years ago to stop competing and join the opposition where practical, and started a joint venture with German and French railways on the Cologne to Frankfurt route.
Since May 2003, Lufthansa passengers have been able to use their flight tickets to travel between Cologne or Stuttgart and Frankfurt Airport on one of more than 20 express trains a day. The station in Frankfurt adjoins the airport, and is within walking distance. Last year, about 290 000 passengers chose to use this service.
In July, a similar service will be introduced between Düsseldorf and Frankfurt. All train and flight numbers, and the seating plan on board the train, are available on the Lufthansa reservation system and check-in channels and passengers can check in for the railway part of the journey from home, en route with a cellphone or use a Lufthansa check-in machine at the Deutsche Bahn travel centre.
Cooling off period
Although its commonplace now to book online for local flights, most of us don’t want to risk making a mistake by doing it for an expensive overseas flight, particularly when it’s a family holiday. But, according to Daniel Bainbridge, British Airways strategic commercial development manager, more of us have gained the confidence to do so. He says that in the past year, online bookings by local customers have grown by nearly 12.5 percent.
He attributes this partly to the fact that ba.com is now more user-friendly and that a 24-hour cooling off period has been introduced, enabling customers to amend online bookings free of charge.
The ba.com site accounts for about 18 percent of bookings made in South Africa compared with 33 percent internationally. But, Bainbridge expects this to increase before long.
Domestic and regional airline Comair, which is a British Airways franchise holder, has ordered four more new generation Boeing 737-800s for its low cost division, kulula.com. It already has four and the others are due to arrive towards the end of this year when it will face increased competition on the route between here and Johannesburg from Fastjet, whose new South African operation will be 25 percent owned by a British registered company in which the principal shareholders will be Lonrho and 75 percent by a South African holding company, Fastjet Holdings. This arrangement has been made to comply with a regulation that a South African airline must be 75 percent South African-owned.
Fastjet announced that it would start with two return flights a day, at times suitable for business travellers. Its website and call centre are expected to open before the end of this week, with flights due to start next month. Ticket prices had not been announced at the time of publication. - Weekend Argus