A NEW commercial joint venture
between SAA and Air Mauritius is
“an exciting, major step forward
in the evolution of the relationship”
between the two airlines, says SAA
spokesperson, Tlali Tlali. He was
responding to a question by TNW
if this was the first step in an even
closer relationship between SAA
and Air Mauritius, such as an equity
partnership.
He says the plan is to launch the
JV during the course of 2020. “The
teams at both airlines will be working
together over the coming months.”
This follows an exemption in terms
of Section 10 of the Competition Act
granted to SAA and MK on October
24 by the Competition Commission
for a JV on the JNB-MRU route “and
other related routes” for a period of
five years, citing as a primary reason
the promotion of exports from South
Africa.
The CompCom says, in addition
to an existing codeshare on the
route, the JV allows SAA and MK to
“collaborate on network scheduling,
revenue management and distribution;
and to align their economic incentives
by pooling their revenue and costs on
JNB-MRU and the behind and beyond
destinations”.
This means that the JV includes
connecting flights beyond
Johannesburg and Mauritius on the
two companies’ respective networks,
confirms Air Mauritius.
“Under this agreement, Air Mauritius
and SAA will be able to develop
passenger and cargo capacity
across their joint network. The two
airlines will also be able to align their
schedules in order to provide better
choice and flexibility to passengers
through seamless connections beyond
Johannesburg and Mauritius,” it says
in a statement. Tlali confirms it allows
the carriers to promote each other's
networks and improve connections
and customer service beyond their
respective hubs. He says SAA will
continue to operate its ownaircraft on the trunk route, in
co-ordination with MK aircraft.
Approached for comment,
Comair joint-ceo, Glenn
Orsmond, points out that
SAA and MK already hold
96% of the market share on
the JNB-MRU route, with BA
Comair only 4%. “Any pooling
of resources can only be
anti-competitive,” he says.
“Fair competition is good for
commercial aviation and good
for consumers. We’ve never
shied away from it. If we feel
competitors are behaving
unfairly, we will act,” adds
joint ceo, Wrenelle Stander.
Meanwhile, World Leisure
Holidays md, Ramesh
Jeenarain says the JV
should give passengers
access to benefits offered
by both carriers, such as
more flexible flight timings,
using Air Mauritius’s Travel
Smart programme and the
availability of last-minute
upgrades. “The carriers will
also be able to increase
capacity on the route during
high demand periods as
there will be more aircraft at
their joint disposal. If they
maintain affordable prices, it
will make the route attractive
to more travellers and
positively benefit all parties,
including travel agents and
tour operators,” he says.
A precedent
The “landmark” CompCom
decision “sets an exciting
precedent and opens
many doors to inter-airline
connectivity”, says Airlink
ceo, Rodger Foster. He says
it’s an opportunity for Airlink
to work more closely with
SAA and to align with its
extended network.
Rodger speculates that the
first likely outcome will be a
double-daily wide-body service
between JNB and MRU
offered between SAA and Air
Mauritius. “The second will
be that SAA’s network will
extend beyond MRU and will
likely include destinations in
India and Southeast Asia via
MRU. The exciting part will be
that Airlink’s 55-point network
will be open for business
in terms of interline interconnectivity via JNB and MRU
to destinations beyond MRU
and that will be a big
opportunity for Airlink’s
customers,” he says.
SAA and MK get closer
06 Nov 2019 - by Sarah Robertson
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