FlySafair launching massive R9 ticket price sale – with 50,000 seats up for grabs

Local airline FlySafair is bringing back its cheap flight sale, offering 50,000 tickets for R9 – including airport taxes.

The group said that the sale will cater for one-way flights on domestic routers. The exact date of the sale is yet to be announced, however, the group confirmed it will be taking place next week.

The qualifying tickets are for individual seats and are only available on pre-selected flights across the airline’s domestic route network for departures between May and November this year.

The R9 ticket price is in celebration of the group’s nine years of operations, it said.

“FlySafair operated its first scheduled domestic flight on 16 October 2014 and has since grown to be a significant player in the domestic air travel space. The airline now operates over 150 flights a day connecting all major South African cities with additional connections to Mauritius and Zanzibar.

“This year we are going big with 50,000 tickets which equates to an entire 264 Boeing 737-800 aircraft full of passengers flying for only R9.”

The group’s previous sales have created significant buzz over social media, and have seen over 100,000 passengers grab seats for between R1 and R8.

Because of the huge demand, FlySafair will be implementing a “waiting room” and hosting lucky draws every minute to allow would-be travellers in.

“We’d like to apologise in advance to employers across the country for any productivity lost on the sale day,” the group said.

The flight sale comes after three years of strain in the domestic airline sector, which has seen significant losses due to local and global lockdowns related to the pandemic, as well as significant disruptions to fuel supplies due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

South Africa has lost big players in the space, including Kulula operator, Comair, which was liquidated in 2022. Another local airline, Mango, is also on the brink of liquidation.

As a result of the troubles, ticket prices have ballooned, with operators like FlySafair, Lift, Airlink and Cemair moving in to meet demand.

According to a study conducted by Discovery Bank earlier this year, South Africans are paying 30% to 55% more for local flights than they did in 2019.

Read: How much more South Africans are paying for an air ticket – and here’s why