Mango mulls new international routes

MANGO is looking at launching a
service to Mauritius in the next
12 months. Kilimanjaro is also
in the pipeline.
Mango ceo, Nico Bezuidenhout, told
TNW on the side lines of the Routes
2015 aviation conference, which was
held in Durban from September 19
to 21, that the airline was looking to
further develop its leisure routes into
Africa after the success of its Zanzibar
route. “Our services into Tanzania are
highly lucrative; it’s a good market for
us,” he said.
One of the main reasons Mango
is looking to expand beyond SA’s
borders, is because of the constrained
SA market. There was too much
capacity in the South African domestic
market, said Nico. “Something will
have to give.” He predicts the exit of
some LCCs. “There will be further
market consolidation. There is no
doubt there’s inefficient capacity in the
market to sustain the amount of LCCs
operating in the market. In the SA
short-haul space we’ve had ten entries
and exits of new carriers in the last
decade, and more will exit soon.”
Despite this, Mango would continue
to add capacity in the domestic
market, Nico said, adding that the SA
domestic market was still, by far, the
biggest on the African continent.
Mango and SAA had managed to
grow market share in a market that
wasn’t growing, Nico said. “There are
specific city pairs in our country where
our entry has stimulated growth,
doubling the number of travellers.”
Mango, in particular, had captured
some travellers through its distribution
channels in retail stores, he said.
Mango had seen fast-paced growth
over the past few years, he added.
“Last year we grew about 12%, and
for the next three to five years, I
foresee an average rate of growth
of about 20%.”
Mango will continue to focus
primarily on the leisure segment of the
South African market. “Price-sensitive
business travellers tend to follow
once the route is established and we
have built up our service,” said Nico,
adding it was important for Mango to
take care not to cannibalise parent
company, SAA.