Flight ticket prices for December compared – FlySafair vs SAA, Lift and Airlink

Following historical trends, as we approach the December festive period, flight prices are expected to increase, says Jonathan Ayache, the CEO of local airline Lift.

Speaking to ENCA, Ayache said that it is common for flight prices to increase around the holiday peak season. In light of capacity constraints as well as increased jet fuel prices, the current prices are not as high as they could be, he added.

Lift just announced its first successful flight on a new route between Johannesburg and Durban – opening 162 seats three times a day there and back. The airline originally only serviced flights between Joburg and Cape Town.

Ayache said that the airline now plans to add more capacity to the limited market with six new aircraft by the end of the year. The group also plans to close the “golden triangle” with a route planned between Cape Town and Durban coming in 2023.

Lift’s expansion comes at a time when South Africa’s airline industry is reeling from domestic airline parent company Comair, which owned both British Airways and Kulula, being liquidated.

According to FlySafair’s chief marketing officer Kirby Gordon, the Comair liquidation resulted in the standard 1.2 million available seat capacity dropping to 900,000. Gordon said that after the liquidation, flight capacity almost halved, with 40% taken offline and the market losing 9,000 seats every week since.

Ayache said that the market is recovering. However, passenger numbers are only at 70% pre-Covid levels.

Only FlySafair, Lift, CemAir, and Airlink remain in operation out of the eight domestic airlines that provided service to South Africa before Covid-19. A number of other airlines, including Mango, SA Express, Kulula, British Airways, and Kulula, have been grounded or shut down, sharply lowering the amount of travel capacity.

BusinessTech looked at how much it costs to fly one way between some of South Africa’s major metros across three different airlines, namely: FlySafair, Airlink and South African Airways (SAA) and Lift.

Currently, the cheapest flight routes include those between Durban to Johannesburg and from Cape Town to Gqeberha. The most expensive include those between Cape Town and Durban.

Note: All one-way flight costs were for Friday, the 16th of December 2022 – roughly a month away from the date of writing (28 October). The 16h00 flight was considered first, if this was sold out, then the closest available flight time was used.

From Johannesburg

From Durban

From Gqeberha

Note: SAA as well as Lift do not offer any flights to Gqeberha.

Aviation analyst Des Latham said that prospective travellers could take some steps to best avoid high air tickets. He said South African travellers should book well in advance and plan ahead to avoid paying nearly double for ticket prices.

Lathan went on to provide the following tips for people seeking to travel in light of heightened costs:

• Plan quicker and ahead of time. “You can not drop everything and fly to Cape Town.”

• Booking in October is cutting it fine, but the earlier, the better.

• Look at alternative days to fly. Busy routes, such as between Joburg and Cape Town, can have good deals on off-peak days.

• See if you can change the holiday periods. Flying just before the 16th of December could inflict the highest costs.

• Look at alternative airlines that may operate smaller, more cost-effective planes.

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