FACING concerns that it
could lose market share due
to domestic flight delays
on BA Comair and low-cost
carrier, kulula.com, Comair
Limited has budgeted
R100m “to attempt to
alleviate the situation
while working on long-term
solutions”.
This was highlighted in an
open letter sent to travel
agents by ceo of Comair
Limited, Erik Venter.
The latest statistics on
airline on-time performance
by Acsa show that in
December last year, BA
Comair only achieved an
average 67,1% 15-minute
on-time performance. Kulula.
com recorded an average
64,8%. BA Comair’s year-todate performance was 76,6%
and kulula’s was 73,2%.
Meanwhile, competitor,
FlySafair, averaged 93,6%
on-time performance for
2018. It recorded a 91,9%
on-time performance rate for
December, followed by Airlink
(85%) and SAA (84,9%).
Operations manager
of Sure Travel, Stephen
Howarth, says passengers
may shift their loyalties to
other airlines should the
delays continue. “You only
have to read on social media
where people have issues,
saying they will never fly
kulula again and shift to
FlySafair,” he says.
Head of marketing at
kulula.com and BA Comair,
Shaun Pozyn, is, however,
upbeat, telling TNW that
indications for January
are that the airlines are
improving on their on-time
performance. He says a
number of the delays were a
result of problems with the
scheduling of maintenance
and challenges with logistics
at SAA Technical, which
maintains the aircraft of
Comair’s two airline brands.
The group is bringing
in new B737s this year,
which may assist with
fewer technical issues and
on-time performance, says
Stephen. He says kulula.com
has introduced the Q-Jump
system but says feedback
from customers is that it
was not working to alleviate
delays as, he believes, there
is still a lot of overbooking.
“They need to get back to
basics as a lot of people are
saying customer service is
certainly not up to scratch.”
“Fortunately, BA Comair
and kulula have built strong
brand loyalty with agents
and clients over the years,”
says ceo of XL Travel, Marco
Ciocchetti, although it’s clear
flight delays are “obviously a
concern”
