By Zuko Komisa
The worst is reportedly yet to come for the South Africa’s air travel.
Business Tech reports that due to pressure from a combination of unmet demand and the closure of some domestic routes, the cost of passenger air travel in South Africa has grown by approximately 50% in the last year.
One of the highest rises reported by the statistics agency Stat SA over the time was a 49.5 per cent increase in passenger transport by air between May 2021 and May 2022, according to Consumer Price Inflation data released on Wednesday (22 June).
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Kaya Biz with Gugulethu Mfuphi spoke to Guy Leitch who is an aviation expert and SA Flyer editor about what this will mean for South African consumers.
LISTEN TO THE FULL CONVERSATION HERE:
Around 40% of all domestic flights in the nation were handled by Comair, which resulted in increased demand for other carriers like Lift, FlySafair, and Airlink.
Prices are rising for other reasons besides Comair’s lack of capacity, though.
Guy Leitch, the editor of the SA Flyer, says the demise of Comair could result in 400% price rises for tickets.
The airline industry is also suffering as a result of the rising cost of aviation fuel brought on by the increase in oil prices.
“So that’s going to force the prices up a huge amount and on top of that, we’ve had enormous price increases because of the fuel price increases, so although there’s going to be a removal of 40% of the supply, the demand is virtually going to drop off while a new equilibrium is established. So it’s going to price a lot of the travellers out of the market.” said Leitch,
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