FOLLOWING SAA’s
withdrawal of its
corporate and
government fares last month,
the airline has now released
its new offering, realising
predictions that discount
levels would be reduced.
Carlos Luis, brand leader
air and land contracts for
Flight Centre Travel Group
(FCTG), confirmed that SAA
had reduced corporate
discount levels for many fare
classes and had removed
them entirely for the lower
booking classes.
“Flight Centre understands
that SAA is doing what it
can to improve its financials.
Discounts of up to 30% that
had previously been extended
to government departments
would have been very difficult
to justify in its new business
model. People generally
understand the predicament
that they are in,” he said.
Vanya Lessing, ceo of Sure
Travel, said while it was
still too early to gauge the
private sector’s reaction, she
believed corporates would
take SAA’s competitors’
prices into consideration
when booking tickets but that
Voyager was likely to remain
a very strong drawcard
for this sector when fare
selections were made.
“Travel Counsellors have
an obligation to ensure that
our customers receive the
best possible outcome when
booking an air ticket and we
provide our corporates with a
spectrum of rates to choose
from,” said Mladen Lukic,
gm of Travel Counsellors.
“Should a particular
supplier price themselves
poorly compared with their
competitors, it is likely that
there will be a negative
outcome for the supplier in
question. This is true, not
just for SAA but for all our
suppliers,” said Mladen.
Sailesh Parbhu, md of
XL Nexus Travel, confirmed
that SAA’s public sector
fare discounts, which had
previously been capped at
around 30%, had now been
reduced to caps of between
18% and 20%.
“Treasury and SAA met
regarding the discount levels
and deemed that a discount
reduction would be the best
solution to SAA’s current
financial predicament. Public
sector departments don’t
have much choice but to
accept the new offerings,”
said Sailesh.
He added that the public
sector were staunch
supporters of SAA, in many
instances directing more
than 80% of their travel
bookings to the airline.
Sailesh believes the sector
will continue to support the
airline but that this would
not necessarily result in
a huge increase in travel
spend based on the higher
fares. “Treasury has also
implemented a number of
cost-saving initiatives and
is encouraging departments
to book lower classes of
travel wherever possible,” he
explained.
According to the agents
canvassed, it is also
interesting to note that SAA
is bucking the trend at a
time when other airlines are
currently renewing corporate
agreements providing
generous discount levels.
Reduced discounts f
23 May 2018 - by Sarah Robertson
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