THE grounding of SA Express
has been met with a spike in
the price of domestic fares,
with some agents accusing
Airlink of taking advantage of a
monopoly on routes previously
operated by SAX.
Roan Havenga, director
of Sure Etnique Travel, said
clients were complaining
about the increase in Airlink’s
Johannesburg-Bloemfontein
fares when compared with SAX
prices. In contrast, he said
prices had remained relatively
stable on the BloemfonteinCape
Town route, despite
Mango’s having a monopoly
there since SAX’s grounding.
Roan said international travel
ex-Bloemfontein had also
increased as Airlink was the
only airline with add-on fares.
A Durban-based agent, who
wished to remain anonymous,
said she had seen increases
of more than R1 000 per
ticket on the JohannesburgSichen
route.
However, Rodger Foster, ceo
and md of Airlink, explained
that it had been difficult to
plan in advance when it came
to the SAX activities that
Airlink had temporarily taken
over. Initially there had only
been certainty that Airlink
would step in for 24 hours,
which was then extended into
the weeks ahead. Airlink’s fleet
of aircraft range from 29- to
98-seaters and when, amid
the confusion of the grounding,
many existing SAX passengers
did not show up for the flights
that Airlink had arranged for
them, the airline adopted
a conservative approach
when deploying aircraft size
to market, while its analysts
established the actual demand
for each destination.
Rodger said where smaller
aircraft were used, the fewer
cheaper seats sold out faster,
leaving only the higher-yielding
fares. “As Airlink accumulates
its own data and gleans an
understanding for each market,
we are increasingly able to
predict demand and plan
airlift supply accordingly. The
right size matching of aircraft
to market will normalise over
time, and so too will fares.”
A number of agents have
defended Airlink, saying how
helpful it had been in assisting
stranded SAX passengers.
Maria Kalogeropoulos,
manager of Sure Turn Key
Travel, said the G-class price
on the Hoedspruit routes had
remained very similar to SAX’s
pricing, and Mirium Philander,
a consultant at Flight Centre
Kimberley, said while Airlink’s
peak holiday period pricing
on the Kimberley routes had
initially been expensive, the
airfares had come down for
travel in August and beyond.
