Cape Town - British Airways and German airline Lufthansa are meeting the challenge of the growing number of low-cost airlines (although so far these are usually limited to short-haul routes and often have extra charges that push up the total fare) by investing in greater comfort for passengers.
BA is spending most of its £5-billion investment on new aircraft, the first of which were due to arrive this week, as well as on smarter cabins in its existing fleet, improved lounges and other ways to make air travel more comfortable.
BA has ordered 12 Boeing Dreamliners, six Boeing 777 Extended Range and 12 giant Airbus A 380s for delivery over the next four years.
The first two Dreamliners were due to arrive this week and, sadly, neither will be used immediately for flights to this country although I have been told that we can expect to see these planes on the Cape Town route before long. The first will be used for flights to Los Angeles starting in October and the next to Hong Kong starting in November. The first A 380 is due to be delivered on Thursday.
BA’s parent company, IAG, to which Spanish airline Iberia also belongs, says it will convert options to buy 18 more Dreamliners into firm orders for BA and order 18 Airbus A350 XWB (extra wide-bodied) for the airline. The first A350 XWB completed its maiden flight this month. The Airbus and the Dreamliner have revolutionary new features.
Air Zimbabwe
Air Zimbabwe, which stopped flying before that country’s last election when its funds were suddenly taken over, has started again, very unobtrusively. A news agency said this week it was about to start, but in fact it is already flying to Joburg’s OR Tambo Airport with 10 flights a week including Sundays.
And, in spite of its unadvertised return, the news has reached enough people to provide it with heavy passenger loads at present in spite of competition on the route from SAA, Comair and Airlink.
SA Express
SA Express has launched new passenger flights to Harare from Durban. It already operates cargo flights from there to several Southern African Development Community countries.
Etihad
Middle East airline Etihad, with which SAA has signed a codeshare agreement, is continuing its strategy of expansion through codesharing. It followed its agreement to carry SAA passengers to its home airport of Abu Dhabi and some destinations beyond with a similar one with the merged Air France and KLM.
It has now signed a similar agreement with Serbia’s national airline, Jat Airways, with the difference that it will also take a stake in the airline. It will also offer flights from Abu Dhabi to the Serbian capital of Belgrade and other Eastern European destinations.
African airlines
Miguel Santos, Boeing’s vice-president for sales in Africa, told a conference in Joburg this week that African airlines were expected to need 1 070 new aircraft worth $130-billion between now and 2032 to meet demand as the continent became more prosperous and connectivity between our countries improved. Africa was also expected to continue to attract more international visitors while more Africans travelled overseas.
He pointed out that international air travel had grown at a rate of five percent a year since 1980 in spite of four recessions, two financial crises, two Gulf wars, soaring fuel prices, a pandemic and the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York.
Connectivity between Africa and the rest of the world had grown at a rate of seven percent a year between between 2009 and 2011, when it was slowed by unrest, but had started growing again at a rate of six percent between 2010 and last year. It was African airlines that were leading the development of route network between Africa and Asia, and the number of their flights to America had doubled. - Weekend Argus