The launch of air services by FlySafair in a month’s time may result in a few weeks of competitive pricing but is unlikely to result in a long-term drop in prices.
According to Mango’s head of communications, Hein Kaiser, there is no prospect of a price war. He said the introduction of competitive domestic airlines always had a positive impact for consumers but “one cannot assume that the launch pricing of any airline would be maintained throughout”.
He said while Mango would continue to offer a weekly ticket sale on Tuesdays, “we are confident that our product offering, distribution and payment methods (Mango tickets can be bought on an Edgars account, for example) will stand the airline in good stead”, once FlySafair took to the skies.
Hein cautioned that, in recent years, aviation and GDP growth had de-coupled with negative growth in passenger numbers. The introduction of additional capacity could negatively impact the equilibrium between supply and demand, and thereby the aviation sector commercially.
Ceo of Comair – which also operates LCC, kulula.com – Erik Venter, was quoted in Business Day this week saying that other than ensuring some competitive rates for a few weeks, FlySafair’s launch would not lead to significant changes in the airline’s ticket prices, as profits were too low to sustain lower fares.
