Virgin Reintroduces Direct CT Seasonal Flights

Virgin Atlantic has re-introduced its direct seasonal flights between Cape Town and London from 18 October. The schedule will continue until April 2013. Flights will operate three times a week until the end of October, and from then will move to daily flights. “By introducing the direct flight for summer, we believe this will drive additional tourism to both London and Cape Town. The direct route also cuts down costs, whichever way you’re flying,” said Simon Newton-Smith, Virgin Atlantic’s Country Manager for South Africa.

New SA Low-Cost Airline

 New South African domestic airline FlyGoAir is set to launch, with Lanseria as its major hub to the north-west of Johannesburg. According to media reports, the airline is set to operate an "affordable premium service" on routes that are currently not well served by other airlines. It's due to start operating on 26 November, with its first route being the Lanseria - Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport route, with estimated airfares of R999-00 per person one way, inclusive of all taxes.
The airline plans to offer in-flight services such as meals, beverages and alcohol, and has also designed a unique loyalty reward programme, in which passengers qualify for a free flight after every six flights flown. According to CEO, Reg Sivsanker, “FlyGoAir is bold in wanting to take to the skies in tough times", but he believes in its competitive advantage and in the future, the airline hopes to expand its services by adding flights to the more popular destinations, which, he says, will further improve FlyGoAir’s competitive edge. FlyGoAir also plans to launch another two routes in January, to Polokwane and Pietermaritzburg respectively, with other routes said to be in the pipeline for next year, including flights from Lanseria to Bloemfontein and George, as well as a service from Kruger Mpumalanga to Cape Town. FlyGoAir will work with an online reservation system, which will take bookings from only two calendar months in advance. “Passengers can be assured; they will not have to suffer the same fate as those passengers who lost money on advance bookings on airlines that folded,” said Sivsanker.
 Although FlyGoAir has appealed to the public and the industry to be positive and “welcome the airline that is trying to make a difference by adding value and choice to air travel in South Africa”, industry players warn that it had better have deep pockets if it wants to survive in the current economic climate. “Anyone trying to launch an airline in the current trading environment is extremely rich or brave,” said Erik Venter, Comair CEO. “Fuel is at its highest price in history, as are airport charges.
 An added challenge for any operation from Lanseria is that fuel has to be brought in by road transport. Further to this, the market is in decline as a result of higher ticket prices needed to cover operating costs.” Blacky Komani, 1time CEO, adds the current state of the aviation industry in South Africa is very competitive, with most operators reporting losses due to overcapacity and high input costs.
 “I sincerely hope the new player has deep pockets to weather the aviation storms. The last thing the industry needs is another player going under.”

Fresh Air Commences Flights

 Fresh Air, the Zimbabwean-registered airline which recently entered into a joint venture agreement with South African low-cost carrier, 1time Airline, is set to take to the skies on 2 November, with its first flight departing O.R. Tambo International Airport, en route to Victoria Falls Airport, Zimbabwe. This follows as Fresh Air officially acquired the traffic rights to commence operations. As initially agreed, the JV encompasses 1time utilising its fleet of aircraft to serve the Fresh Air route, which subsequently replaces 1time’s current Livingstone flight schedule in favour of flights between Johannesburg and Victoria Falls Airport. The route schedule, as it stands, includes three weekly flights from O.R. Tambo International Airport on Mondays and Fridays at 10h40 respectively, as well as a Sunday flight at 10h20.

New Booking Tool for BA

Customers visiting ba.com will now find it easier to book flights on the British Airways website, thanks to a new registration scheme. The new service offers customers a simple registration option during the booking process, so they can save their personal details to make future bookings easier and quicker. When customers log in, their personal information and APIS details are automatically entered to every new booking, taking out the hassle of adding them each time.
 Like other online retailers, such as Amazon, the new British Airways easy registration option allows customers to quickly sign up, providing only their name, email address and password, or to log into their existing registered customer or Executive Club account, while in the booking process. A post-login landing page will display all upcoming flights, providing easy access to bookings.
 Registered customers will also have an option to easily convert their account to an Executive Club account, while existing Club members will be able to see all their flights, not just those containing their frequent flyer number. Later next year, ba.com will also introduce the ability to save payment card details, making booking for customers even quicker.

Levy for Labadi Beach Hotel

The Ghana Tourism Authority has notified the Labadi Beach Hotel – a Legacy Hotels & Resorts property – that it qualifies for the 1% tourism levy, specified in the country’s Tourism Act. Labadi Beach regrets to inform the start of the collection of the levy with immediate effect, which they say is beyond their control.

Trouble at SAA

South African Airways CEO, Siza Mzimela has resigned, along with two other senior managers. The exit of Mzimela follows the dramatic walk out by the majority of the board at the airline earlier this month‚ including the chairwoman Cheryl Carolus‚ with all citing a breakdown in the relationship with the shareholder, which is the Department of Public Enterprises.
 Further to that, former CEO, Khaya Ngqula's lawyers have informed Carolus that he intends to sue her for R40m for defamation. This was reportedly because Carolus told the Business Times on September 30 that the SAA board had made progress in tackling labour, competition, fraud and corruption problems, which the airline had "inherited from previous management".
The SAA board is also currently suing Ngqula, who left the airline in 2009, to recover about R252m from him in four separate claims, following a forensic investigation by auditors KPMG.

KQ Increases Simba Lounge Capacity

Kenya Airways has expanded its lounge at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, to cater for increase in customer growth. Under the brand name ‘Simba Lounge’, two Kenya Airways-operated lounges at JKIA will seat over 200 passengers, with the older Simba Lounge seating over 50 passengers and the newly-expanded Simba Lounge on the second floor at JKIA seating 150 passengers, in an area of about 1500 square metres.
 The lounge service will cater for Business Class, Flying Blue Elite Plus and SkyTeam Elite Plus passengers, where high value customers get the same unique service across all 500 lounges in all Skyteam member airlines. Passengers will have an option to choose which of the two lounges to use while waiting to depart. The lounge services will include amongst others, complimentary food, snacks and drinks, hot shower facility, high speed Wi-Fi Internet connection, satellite TV, and international newspapers and journals. The new lounge will be open to all Platinum and Gold card elite frequent fliers from all SkyTeam member airlines, departing or flying via Nairobi.