South African-based regional carrier, FlySafair has announced that it now has the rights to fly three scheduled flights per week, direct between Johannesburg and Zanzibar. Direct, scheduled flights JNB-ZNZ are coveted rights, long held by now dormant carrier, Mango, a SAA subsidiary. Until this announcement, the only direct flights on the route have been charters by Africastay.
Flysafair said the Zanzibar service should be up and running soon, thanks to this existing charter arrangement.
“Translating this existing chartered operation into a scheduled operation should be a fairly quick process, allowing us to release schedules as early as Q2,” said Kirby Gordon, Chief Marketing Officer of FlySafair.
There’s more good news from FlySafair, which is rapidly blossoming into a truly regional carrier. It has been granted rights to conduct daily flights on two more regional routes – Johannesburg to Windhoek and Johannesburg to Harare. Schedules for these two destinations were likely to be available by Q3 of 2023, just in time for the holiday season, said Gordon. Once all permissions and logistical considerations had been resolved, FlySafair would be able to offer daily flights to Windhoek and Harare from Johannesburg and Cape Town respectively, said the airline.
Mauritius specialists will be happy to hear that, aside from these new routes, FlySafair was also awarded five additional frequencies on its Mauritius route, which means the airline could potentially offer daily flights.
“We are thrilled to have received this news,” said Gordon. “We’ve already begun laying the groundwork in several of our target countries and are in discussions with various parties, including civil aviation authorities, to get these new routes up and running as soon as possible.”
FlySafair has seen rapid growth over the past 10 months, adding a number of new aircraft to its operating fleet and hiring many new staff members to accommodate this expansion. The airline is poised to take on three more aircraft before the end of March.
