AFTER suspending its air service between Port Elizabeth and George for a 60-day period, after which the service would be reassessed, Streamline NAC has announced that it would terminate the service indefinitely.
NAC's branch director in Cape Town, Peter Bower, told Travel Now that studies and costing had revealed that the introduction of the flights between the two centres had resulted in a zero growth rate.
"We feel that we gave it all we had, flying on the right days and the right times, and although we had a positive response from individual passengers, we feel there just isn't enough of a need to viably sustain the service."
According to Bower, the airline was aiming for a 65% load factor per flight and received only 11,7%.
He says it's difficult to pin-point the exact reasons for the lack of support for the service between the two major destinations, but speculates that it may be because the road connecting the cities is in such peak condition.
Bower is not ruling out the service entirely and says NAC will "keep an eye" on the possibility of re-introducing the service at a later stage.
"We're also currently exploring other options," he added.
(Adele Mackenzie)
