Flysafair has honoured more than R106-million in flight credits since the start of lockdown at the end of March 2020.
"This means passengers who previously had to cancel their travel plans have used the refunded flight value to rebook," said Kirby Gordon, the chief marketing officer.
When the initial three-week lockdown was introduced, the airline jumped into action with the automatic issuing of a refund to a virtual wallet for passengers.
FlySafair has since made more permanent changes to its cancellation and refund policy, allowing customers across all airfare options to cancel and receive value in the form of credits to their wallet.
“We understand that life has become unpredictable for our customers, which is why we’ve made our cancellation policy more flexible,” said Gordon.
“It’s trickier than ever to plan a week in advance, let alone the end-of-year family holiday. To give customers peace of mind, we made sure that they were able to redeem the value of a cancelled flight to use again when the time is right.
“June marked a year since we commenced operations again during the pandemic and, in that time, we’ve carried more than three million passengers. This figure is a testament to our staying power as a low-cost carrier.”
The cargo side of FlySafair’s operations saw significant growth in the past year, with more than 1 000 tonnes flown between June 2020 and June 2021. This has proved to be a vital lifeline during recent disruptions to supply chains and road networks in and around KwaZulu-Natal.
“People sometimes look at airlines as only being enablers of travel for those looking to go on holiday. However, we’re so much more than that. Airlines are great indicators of economic growth as they enable connections between major cities and smaller, more remote areas,” he said.