An upstart airline, Lift, operating in South African skies is now offering flights between Johannesburg and Durban as of October 26 2022.
The airline, Lift, announced this week that the flight tickets are already on sale for three flights per day starting from next month.
As things stand, Lift is flying between Johannesburg and Cape Town but the Durban flights will depart from Johannesburg early in the morning, again at noon, and then late in the afternoon.
Business Insider SA reports that local flight prices have been consistently crazy, with demand outweighing supply on most domestic routes and high fuel prices, while airline operators around the world struggle to find pilots and crew.
“The extra seats on the always-popular Durban route come as something of a relief for travel agents – especially in time for the traditional summer-holiday rush to the beach, which makes catering for business travellers harder at the best of times,” reports the news outlet.
“But Lift is not undercutting the competition, our price checks on the route show. In fact, it is more expensive than all but one of its competitors.
“For October and some of November, Lift is offering seats at between R800 and R900 each way between Johannesburg and Durban. But those introductory prices fall away farther down its schedule, and by peak holiday time, you’ll be paying far more.
“We priced a return flight from Johannesburg to Durban, leaving on 15 December and returning on 30 December, for one adult with at least one piece of luggage. We chose the cheapest seat on the day for every airline that flies the route, excluding stupid-o-clock flights.”
As per the report – local airlines including SAA and CemAir – wanted to charge less than R3000 for a return flight between Johannesburg and Durban.
The research indicates that Lift asks for R3, 105, Airlink charges R3, 164 and FlySafair seeks R3, 009 but Lift has promised to close the triangle with flights between the Mother City and Durban from November, yet there were details for now.
Established in 2020, Lift operates domestic routes from O. R. Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg using a fleet of Airbus A320 narrow-body aircraft and it is operated by Global Aviation.
Main Image: Lift Airline/Twitter
https://twitter.com/liftairlinesa
