We don’t believe we can fly
YEBEKUNENE, we can talk and try to comfort each other but if current economic trends are anything to go by, many will still be unable to afford flight tickets three years from now.
Eswatini Air will have a tough task trying to win us over. We just do not have money. Okay, maybe we should say we only have enough money to pay rent, buy food, board transport to and from work, and buy the E9 icecream at KFC once in a while.
Actually, some of us do not even make enough money to afford bus fare for the whole month, so by the 14th or 16th we are already bothering shylocks and a few generous friends for soft loans. In case you missed it, this very newspaper reported last week that our flagship airline, Eswatini Air is currently making operating losses.
Between April and December last year, the company spent more than E173 million on operational costs like fuel, maintenance of aircraft and salaries for staff. However, it only managed to generate about E27.9 million over the same period. Government has to come through for the airline by injecting millions of Emalangeni in subventions, just as it recently gave them E390 million. Asked about this, management said: “Well, we were aware of this and projected that we would make losses for three years.”
There is apparently a strategy in place to increase passenger traffic in the next few years. This strategy, in case you are wondering, is secret.
You will not get to know about it because who knows, you might just be a competitor. So yes, you will only see it when you see it. From where we ordinary folk are sitting, it is a good thing this strategy to increase passenger traffic is confidential. Otherwise, knowing it would give us more stress.
You ask why? Well, let us do the math. Eswatini Air says it had 28 000 people flying their aircraft in the nine months in question. This means that on average, at least 3 111 people flew from the KMIII Airport to various destinations in a month.
That would be at least 103 people each day. That is not bad, not at all. However, it is basically the same number of people carried by just one bus on one route. More than 28 000 of us travel by bus each day.
BUSES
Most of the buses we ride have 72 seats and 21 standing passengers, excluding the men, women and children the bus conductor squeezes in when he reaches the stretch where he feels that traffic police will no longer be a threat. As it is, we are already complaining of high bus fares.
Last week, our immune systems suffered a hit when we heard that public transport operators were planning to pass on the 13.5 per cent salary increment for their workers to us, poor passengers. That way, they will not feel the impact of raising salaries for their drivers and conductors. We, commuters, will unwillingly foot the bill. With such stress creeping in unexpectedly, we cannot even dream of flying.
Unlike R. Kelly, we do not believe we can fly. Travelling to Johannesburg or Durban for most of us will always be cheaper by bus. We cannot even afford these fancy vehicles charging E700 to shuttle emaSwati from Mbabane to Johannesburg. With a poverty rate of 63 per cent and generally low wages everywhere lakagogo, Eswatini Air has a really tall order trying to lure us into its airplanes. We want to fly but just cannot afford to, thank you very much.