Boom-time sees airline return to George

ECONOMIC expansion in the region and the huge growth in tourism along the Garden Route have prompted budget airline 1time to re-launch its route to George with an inaugural flight from Johannesburg on Friday.

The carrier pulled out of George in March, 2006, after six months due to lack of capacity.

“We realised we could not cope with the demand because of a lack of aircraft. The company was growing rapidly and our fleet of six planes could not cope, so we decided to cut the Johannesburg-George route,” said 1time commercial manager Desmond O‘Conner.

1time‘s fleet has grown from six aircraft a year ago to 10 with the arrival this month of its latest MD/82, 157-seater aircraft from America.

O‘Conner said that with a fleet of 10 aircraft there would now be 250 flights a week nationally, compared with the carrier‘s launch in March, 2004, with one aircraft and three flights a day between Johannesburg and Cape Town. Two new routes were introduced by 1time yesterday – a daily direct service between Cape Town and Durban and a six-day-a-week flight between Johannesburg and George.

The number of flights to George will be seasonal and could drop to weekend-only flights during low season. 1time has also introduced a third weekly flight from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth. The new routes and additional frequencies to other centres will grow 1time‘s available seats to 1,5 million for the year.

“The decision to return to George was due to numerous requests from the public, since our competitors raised their fares quite heavily in the last six months. “The airfare to George starts at R248, including airport taxes, which is about 25 per cent lower than our competitors,” said Rodney James, 1time marketing director. George representative Mike van Niekerk said, “We are excited with 1time‘s growth since the company launched nearly three years ago. The Garden Route is growing at a phenomenal rate and this time we are here to stay.”

Kulula.com market analyst Sizakele Khumalo said: “We are not threatened by 1time‘s reappearance in George.” She also said the airline would not be returning to East London in the foreseeable future, after the carrier pulled out of the route in January, 2005, because the route could not sustain two low-cost carriers.

Mango airline has yet to include George in its flight schedule. Mango spokesman Hein Kaiser said, however, that the airline was considering and investigating several domestic routes.

“Mango is unable to comment on specific routes such as East London, Mthatha and George at this time. As we have said before, where there is a demand and it makes business sense to operate on a particular route, then Mango will consider flying there,” said Kaiser. Mango flies between Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.

By Cathy Dippnall Garden Route Correspondent