Bay lands new airline

Nelson Mandela Bay has landed a new airline that will start with flights to and from Bloemfontein in May.

The municipality is also in talks with other airlines to fill the gap left by SAA when it cut Port Elizabeth from the Johannesburg route.

Details of the Bloemfontein route — to be operated by CemAir — are still being ironed out, with the frequency of the flights and prices to be announced soon.

This was announced by economic development, tourism and agriculture executive director Anele Qaba during a committee meeting yesterday.

“They will make an announcement soon on the details as they would need to advertise the route.

“We are also in talks with CemAir to add an East London route,” Qaba said after the meeting.

Asked about replacing SAA’s routes, he said: “We will continue to engage airlines to fill the gap left by SAA.”

CemAir is a privately owned airline based in Johannesburg that also leases aircraft to other airlines across Africa and the Middle East.

In a document handed out at the meeting, Qaba wrote that the metro was in talks with various airlines to add flights to and from Kruger National Park, Windhoek, Harare, Durban and Cape Town.

“We are talking with different airlines but there is nothing specific at the moment.

“Some of the routes are under evaluation while discussions for others are ongoing,” he said.

Qaba said SAA’s termination of its Port Elizabeth route had affected the tourism and trade sectors in the city.

“It has presented a downside risk on passenger growth into the province for both domestic and international market segments,” he said.

The ailing national carrier, which is in business rescue, announced in February that it would no longer fly into or out of Port Elizabeth from March 1.

A month earlier, Mango Airlines scrapped a new route from the Port Elizabeth International Airport to Lanseria in Johannesburg, a mere six months after the first flight landed in the city amid much fanfare.

Qaba, who also chairs the city’s airlift steering committee, said it was important to ensure the city was connected with Johannesburg to stave off any future effect on tourism and trade.

“The airlift committee will prioritise engaging with local airlines to replace any capacity gaps created by SAA.

“Though local operators have expressed desire to increase capacity, once the SAA [replacement] plan is firmed, however, the replacement is not going to be on a one-onone basis.”

The business rescue practitioners of SAA have until the end of March to publish their rescue plan to save the embattled flag carrier from liquidation.

Committee chair Marlon Daniels said he was excited about the Bloemfontein route because business owners normally had to travel more than six hours to get to the city.

“I am hopeful that the East London route materialises as the two metros need to be connected.”