Another airline operator is a necessity

DOMESTIC flights are becoming hard to find, and where they are available travellers are paying a lot more since the exit of Comair from the market.

Although Airports Company SA (Acsa) passenger volume figures show a steady recovery of at least 70% compared to pre-covid lockdowns, Comair’s absence is being felt across the travel value chain.

Comair operated Kulula.com and British Airways domestic and regional flights. The company went into liquidation last month after failing to secure funding to keep it in the sky, leaving over 1 000 people jobless.

Acsa acting spokesperson Gopolang Peme said industry recovery was continuing, with airports becoming busier. He said the capacity lost when Comair left would not be easily replaced – “from the role it played in job creation, to tourism numbers and the movement of traffic”.

“The demand will certainly increase over the coming months, which might ultimately lead to a greater demand for flights.” Peme said that given current circumstances and future growth projections, there would probably be a need to have more seat capacity in the market from an existing airline or a new operator. One such choice was Lift Airline, which currently only flies between Johannesburg and Cape Town. It was launched in December 2020, in the middle of the Covid pandemic.

Lift Airline operates between two and three Airbus A320 aircraft, but adds flights in response to demand. It aims to bring on additional aircraft over the coming months, with routes that could possibly include Durban.

Lift Airline chief executive Jonathan Ayache said the growth of their fleet would coincide with the expansion of their route network. It would initially be focused on the domestic market, but with an eye on the region down the line. “The key to our expansion is that it is demand-driven, and we will be guided by the commercial viability of routes rather than for the sake of growth or market share.

“We will fill the gaps as best we can, in line with our flexible model, where it makes sense to us and for our business,” he said.

Ayache said they understood that passengers had been affected by the exit of Comair, but beyond that, many talented people within the industry had found themselves without jobs.

“We had always planned for expansion when the time was right for Lift and have kept a close eye on the market and the impact of Covid,” he said.

With the unprecedented rise in petrol prices, Ayache said their pricing model had not changed, but worked on an automatic system where prices increased when flights filled up.

“It is important to consider that airlines everywhere are just recovering from the aftermath of Covid and are now under huge pressure again due to the sharp increase in fuel prices that account for a significant portion of operating costs.”

It was unclear when Lift would offer flights to and from Durban.