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Wednesday, August 28, 2013

► SOUTH AFRICA: And suddenly a new LCC, FlySafair, appears aiming for a Q4 launch.

South Africa’s Air Service Licensing Council has given local ACMI & MRO specialists, Safair (FA), the go ahead for its LCC startup, FlySafair, to launch domestic operations in the last quarter of this year. Tickets for its planned Cape Town - Johannesburg (OR Tambo International) route are expected to go on sale in September.

Safair's three B737-400s in the airline's livery (FlySafair)
In a press statement issued yesterday, Safair CEO, Mr Dave Andrews, said that despite the unfavourable South African business environment for new startups, his airline would put its extensive experience in the field to good use.
"Although many people have commented that the airline industry is an unfavourable environment for new entrants at the moment, we would like to remind the public that we have been flying commercially for almost half a century already and we have no doubt that FlySafair will only serve to further grow the domestic market.
Owing to our reputation of success, we assert that our new carrier will operate proficiently, and offer the highest standards of excellence and service to our customers - all at a price that they can afford. We look forward to welcoming you onboard again."
Operations will launch with two B737-400s (likely MSNs 24917 & 26065) on 10x daily flights between the two South African metropolises. Further routes are expected as and when demand calls for it.

FlySafair is the third LCC planning to capture a share of the South African market along with fastjet and Skywise following 1Time's demise late last year.