SAA flight cuts will hit local schools

A reduction in flights by South African Airways is set to cause disruption for Grahamstown private schools and the University, with international students finding it harder to return home in the coming December holidays.

This is due to a large cut in direct flights to many African countries, routes the airline has found unprofitable.

In addition, in a new fiveyear corporate plan, the national airline recently announced the halving of flights to Port Elizabeth and East London, beginning on 31 October. These are the two closest airports to Grahamstown.

Many educational institutions in Grahamstown rely on SAA for efficient domestic and international travel throughout the year.

Kingswood College, St. Andrew’s College, the Diocesan School for Girls and Rhodes University use SAA to ferry pupils and students either to other provinces or to connecting international flights.

The new SAA business plan, is an attempt to find financial stability in the shortest time possible, according to newly appointed CEO Vuyani Jarana, whose five-year contract begins on 1 November.

“There is every urgency to aggressively implement this turnaround plan in a manner that shows results in improved efficiencies and ensure schedule integrity for all our customers.

We are therefore monitoring route performance and have made some capacity adjustments to align our sched- ule and frequency for sustainable and profitable outcomes,” SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali told the media recently.

Travel co-ordinator for St Andrew’s College, St Andrew’s Prep and DSG, Ann Bryant, said, “Parents and the school will be greatly affected by SAA cutting its flights to and from PE and East London.

One of the flights in particular that we believe is being cut will mean that our over-border children will not be able to connect to their international flights (to Lusaka, Gaberone, Dar Es Salaam and Entebbe) in the same way.”

“We are trying to find alternatives at the moment,” Bryant said, “in order to ensure a smooth travel season for all local and international pupils.”

“Practically it just means that pupils may travel with one airline from PE to Johannesburg and another thereafter,” said Mfundo Ncube, director of marketing at Kingswood College.

“On arrival in Johannesburg they will need to get their luggage and check it in with a different airline.

The challenge may only occur when a flight from PE is delayed and they miss a connecting flight from OR Tambo.”

“Fortunately, with British Airways, Safair and Mango flying daily between PE and Johannesburg, our pupils still have travel options.”

The carrier announced it will offer a full refund to all pre-booked airline tickets which will be affected by this new business plan.