FlySafair says recent adjustments to its network are largely seasonal, pushing back against recent media reports claiming that the airline may scale back routes with weaker demand as jet fuel prices rise.
While FlySafair has suspended its Lanseria–East London service due to limited demand, the airline says other recent capacity shifts reflect normal post-Easter scheduling changes rather than a broader network pullback.
Kirby Gordon, Chief Marketing Officer of FlySafair, said the airline had recently increased capacity with the launch of a second daily Harare flight.
“There has been a bit of a seasonal reduction in capacity these last few weeks, because demand always drops off after Easter so we usually plan fewer flights and get some maintenance done. There are more flights planned again over the upcoming long weekends so it’s largely the usual swings and roundabouts,” said Gordon.
However, Gordon noted the impact of the high fuel prices on operations. “It’s fair to say that the reductions in demand right now are definitely worsened by the conflict and fuel price dynamics, but there’s definitely seasonality baked into the situation as well,” he added.
