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Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) has announced in a statement that Cape Town International Airport is experiencing further delays in receiving jet fuel due to slowed delivery times from its supplier. Rough seas are delaying the transportation of the fuel via sea vessels, Acsa said. An insider told Daily Maverick that the vessel is expected to dock [on Sunday night] with the fuel being available for use by Wednesday after transporting it to the airport and some routine testing, stabilising fuel supply by Thursday.

Mark Mclean, regional general manager at Cape Town International Airport told Daily Maverick that current jet fuel being used was left over from the last shipment and was being rationed to sustain the airport supply until the shipment arrives. Earlier [last week], the Cape Town airport had also received about two million litres of emergency jet fuel supply to sustain the airport as it awaits the vessel’s arrival.

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The first aircraft to don FlySafair’s new look is a Boeing 737-800 New Generation aircraft set to enter service for the airline on 1 October 2022.

“This is the 25th aircraft in our fleet and we’re excited to use this opportunity to add a little freshness to our look,” says Kirby Gordon, chief marketing officer at FlySafair. “FlySafair has been around for eight years now and after everything we’ve overcome we decided it was time to update our image a bit.”

The airline’s refreshed logo maintains the familiar pink and blue colouring with a subtle modernisation of the lettering. A new addition is a heart-shaped icon constructed by joining the stems of two location pins.

“Our aim has always been to connect people with who and what they love through our love of flying and so when we saw this concept about bringing two places together and forming a heart it just seemed like an obvious symbol for what we aim to do every day,” says Gordon.

The airline’s paint scheme has also been refreshed with the addition of a new navy-blue stripe to the aft section and tail, which is highlighted by a crisp white fuselage. “We wanted to find something elegant and sophisticated, but simple. The more complex a paint scheme the more costly it works out to be,” Gordon adds.

Conscious of its low-cost roots, FlySafair assures customers that even the new paint scheme has cost-saving front of mind. “It seems pedantic but the pigments in darker colours of paint actually make the paint weigh more, so keeping the aircraft largely white means we save money on fuel which helps to keep ticket prices lower,” Gordon states.

Post-pandemic recovery

FlySafair points out that South African domestic aviation is on a strong path to recovery after a turbulent year. Before the pandemic, South Africans used to enjoy their pick of approximately 1.6 million seats a month on domestic routes. This number was vastly impacted by Covid-19 and the subsequent failures of several carriers who once contributed to that seat total.

Today the market has rallied to about 1.2 million seats a month, which marks a full recovery after the exit of Comair. Supply is expected to increase even further as the 2022 summer holiday season approaches.

FlySafair has managed post-pandemic recovery and growth well over the past two years. This month the airline will operate upwards of 122 flights a day, which is a 36% increase on October 2021 and 67% more than what the airline operated in October 2019, before Covid.

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This after reports suggested that the International Air Services Licencing Council revoked 20 of the airline’s domestic and international route rights.

“SAA continues to operate its current network and schedule, with six regional and three domestic destinations. Currently, the airline has deployed additional capacity on the Cape Town route to meet demand, and we have increased the aircraft size on the Harare route.

“SAA made a representation to the International Air Services Licensing Council on its current route allocation and the decision by the Council to review some of the frequencies on the routes that the airline is currently not serving,” SAA said in a statement.

The aviation company added that it will be ramping up operations with additional equipment being purchased for its current fleet.

“The first addition arrived on Tuesday. SAA has taken delivery of an Airbus 320 which allows the airline to continue to gain momentum with the intention to resume full regional and international services.

Earlier this month, the airline celebrated a year of operations after it faced an uncertain future after it was grounded for at least 16 months and underwent business rescue.

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The investment, worth an undisclosed monetary sum, is underpinned by a commercial franchise agreement under which FlyNamibia will adopt Airlink’s “4Z” International Air Transport Association (Iata) designator for its ticket sales and scheduled flights while retaining its unique corporate identity, brand and aircraft livery.

It will also see FlyNamibia’s inventory attaining higher visibility and being promoted on Airlink’s computerised reservation system and on those of major foreign airlines which have partnered with Airlink.

The changes will come into effect as soon as practicable, after which all existing bookings for FlyNamibia flights will be amended at no cost to its customers.

Airlink will also provide additional airline operations, technical and commercial skills training and development support for FlyNamibia.

From its Johannesburg hub, Airlink serves Windhoek up to four times a day and Walvis Bay daily. In addition, from Cape Town, Airlink operates up to three return flights a day to Windhoek and a daily return service to Walvis Bay.

FlyNamibia currently operates domestic flights from Windhoek’s Eros Airport to Ondangwa, Rundu and Katima Mulilo and regional flights to Cape Town operating six times a week from Hosea Kutako International Airport.

Airlink and FlyNamibia will optimise their schedules to provide connections between their respective flights and with long-haul inter-continental flights provided by Airlink’s other commercial partners.

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Bookings for the Johannesburg – Durban route are now open and the first flights will start operating on 26 October 2022 with three return flights per day. Booking dates for the Cape Town – Durban route will be confirmed in the coming weeks, with flights expected to operate from November.

In addition to the new route, Lift will be increasing its flight frequency between Johannesburg and Cape Town with up to 14 flights per day.

“We couldn’t be more excited to add Durban to our list of destinations, it’s one of the most common requests we receive on social media and has been on our radar for a while,” said Lift CEO and co-founder, Jonathan Ayache.

“We’re also adding four aircraft to our fleet which has been done using flexible capacity and can easily be increased or decreased based on demand. This growth in our fleet and new routes will create more than 100 new jobs before the end of the year.

“It’s been a challenging two years but looking ahead we expect the market to recover to pre-pandemic levels in late 2023 and for a second year in a row we will be doubling our seat capacity,” added Ayache.

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Perks that Lift’s Durban travelers can look forward to include complimentary snacks, coffee from Vida e Cafe, flexible flight changes with unlimited penalty-free changes, no cancellation fees, and quick and easy refunds into your Lift wallet. Lift also offers selected dog-friendly flights. Business class travelers can explore the ‘Lift Premium’ offering.

The new flights to Durban have been welcomed by key stakeholders from KwaZulu-Natal as a crucial competitive addition to the route.

The Mayor of Durban, CLLR Mxolisi Kaunda said, “This is great news for Durban. Lift’s launch and an additional domestic airline in traveling to Durban is critical for tourism and will support those wanting to visit over the coming festive season. We warmly welcome Lift as it will unlock domestic tourism.”

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Media reports last week suggested that the national carrier is facing possible liquidation if the deal for the Takatso Consortium to purchase 51% of SAA is not completed.

The carrier’s board chairperson professor John Lamola moved swiftly to dispel those reports.

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan assured South Africans that the carrier is expected to continue operations for the foreseeable future.

“We urge all regulatory authorities to assist in having a speedy conclusion to this process. We also want to assure the loyal customers of SAA that we will do everything possible to ensure SAA grows from strength to strength.

“We also compliment the executive chair, Prof Lamola, board, and staff for the formidable work they have done to grow the SAA presence in the market and providing a much-needed service to the travelling public given the shortage of capacity,” Gordhan said.

The department said the transaction for the consortium to stake its claim in the carrier is now in the hands of “relevant regulators including the Competition Commission, Competition Tribunal and respective aviation authorities” for approval.

“On Friday, 23 September, SAA celebrated one-year of service since taking to the skies after a successful business rescue process. The business rescue process has resulted in the emergence of a competitive, sustainable and technologically agile airline that is gradually regaining its market share and continues to offer best service to its customers.

“The re-emergence of SAA ensures that the national airline continues to play a critical role in the aviation industry and economy at large by providing air transportation connectivity services for both passengers and cargo, facilitating trade and investment, tourism and promoting job creation,” the department said.