By Reuters
Business
Airlink has started taking bookings on its website for flights from June
8, while Safair is taking bookings for flights resuming on June 15.
Two of South Africa’s biggest private airlines will start flying between
local airports this month after
the government eased lockdown
restrictions aimed at containing coronavirus, but they said a recovery
could take at least three years.
Airlink has started taking bookings on its website for flights from June
8, while Safair is taking bookings for flights resuming on June 15.
Low-cost state airline Mango, part of the South African Airways (SAA),
plans to resume flights on June 15, but it is yet to get final approval
from the Department of Public Enterprises, a company spokesman said.
Amid a halt on operations for around two months due to the coronavirus
lockdown, airlines have seen their revenues fall close to zero while
continuing to spend money on aircraft maintenance, salaries and
debt-service.
Comair, another private airline, is under bankruptcy protection and only
plans to restart operations around November. SAA is also under
bankruptcy protection and has not yet said when it plans to restart
flights.
“We expect that demand will be quite thin,” said Kirby Gordon, spokesman
for Safair, which will start operations across four airports - OR Tambo
and Lanseria in Johannesburg, King Shaka in Durban and Cape Town
International.
Market share
Gordon said Safair planned to fly around 25 per cent of its usual
schedule, adding it expected its share of the market to be greater than
normal given the temporary absence of other players, he said.
Airlink is starting to operate from three airports - OR Tambo, King
Shaka and Cape Town International. Airlink expects it will take more
than four years for air travel to revert to pre-coronavirus levels, said
Rodger Foster, its chief executive.
South Africans are only allowed to fly for business purposes under
“level 3” of the country’s coronavirus lockdown, which entered force on
June 1.
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