FlySafair said Friday that it will be launching new routes between Durban's King Shaka Airport and East London as well as Durban and Port Elizabeth.
In a statement the airline said that the first flights will depart on 27 November 2017 and tickets are already on sale through the airline's website.
"The launch of these routes comes in the wake of a survey that FlySafair conducted amongst 29 000 unique respondents, to determine public appetite for a number of potential route options. The survey included the Durban-East London and Durban-Port Elizabeth options along with Nelspruit-Cape Town, Durban-George, Cape Town-Bloemfontein, Lanseria-Bloemfontein and Lanseria-Cape Town," FlySafair said.
"The winning route according to the survey, with an overwhelming majority of 54% of the votes, was Cape Town-Nelspruit. However, the airline chose to launch the routes that came in second and third place instead."
"Public appetite for a new route is naturally a massive consideration when launching new routes," says Kirby Gordon, Head of Sales and Distribution at FlySafair. "But there are some other important factors that have to fall into place, including utilisation of aircraft and crew and slot compliance."
Gordon explains that airlines look at three key factors when choosing to launch a new route, Demand to Capacity Fit, Efficiency and Take-off and Landing slots.
He said OR Tambo International Airport processes up to 50 take-offs and landings every hour, that's a movement every minute and 12 seconds.
"These slots are all scheduled very carefully and competition for the slots between airlines can be intense as everyone needs specific slots to match their utilisation patterns. Sometimes, there has to be a compromise somewhere along the line," he said.
"Looking at all these factors, the Durban to East London and Durban to Port Elizabeth links are the ones that made the most business sense," says Gordon. "The interest in the Cape Town-Nelspruit route is very encouraging and we'll certainly keep looking into it too," he added.
