R10k return flight to Cape Town this Easter?

Intense demand for flights this Easter weekend, along with the skyrocketing price of jet fuel, has seen airfares on the most popular route in South Africa jump to levels approaching R10 000.

A Moneyweb comparison which assumes a person departs from OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg for Cape Town at a sensible time on Thursday morning (not before sunrise) and returns on Monday evening (not arriving back near midnight) shows that FlySafair, the airline with the most capacity in the market, is the cheapest of the five domestic airlines.

FlySafair’s return airfare comes in at just less than R8 400.

The fares for three of the other airlines are all well over R9 000, with South African Airways (SAA) the most expensive at R9 823 return.

(Incidentally, Lanseria – from which only FlySafair flies currently – is no cheaper.)

Easter weekend in Cape Town

1 The base ‘Select’ fare class for economy was selected.

2 The ‘Bag’ fare class for economy was selected.

3 The base ‘Magnificent Sunbird’ fare class for economy was selected.

4 Airlink had no other flights available near 9am and 5pm.

5 The Standard fare class was selected (which includes a checked bag).

‘Fuel surcharge’

Due to the impact of the war in Iran on global oil, petroleum and gas prices, FlySafair introduced a “temporary dynamic fuel surcharge” from mid-March until 31 July.

Originally, this was to be in place for a month. The airline says this charge is temporary and will be reviewed regularly.

FlySafair deliberately shows this separately so that travellers are able to see the impact of higher jet fuel prices.

The airline says the price of the standard A1 variety at coastal airports increased by 70% in a single week due to the unrest in the Middle East.

Following this jump, the price of jet fuel now accounts for more than half the direct operating costs of each flight. Its surcharge is based on the distance flown for each route.

For flights between Cape Town and Joburg (either OR Tambo or Lanseria), the surcharge is around R440 per leg. These prices were adjusted on Monday (when it was implemented, the surcharge was only around R170).

Other airlines, including SAA, simply adjusted their fares to account for fuel prices which are currently far higher than normal.

It is unknown just how much other airlines have increased fares due to fuel costs, but FlySafair’s surcharge offers a transparent view into the direct impact of higher A1 prices. This is currently around R900 for a return flight to Cape Town.

Capacity versus demand

Demand around Easter is always seasonally strong, perhaps beaten only by the December period (with pressure on return flights in early January before schools reopen).

Across the 20 FlySafair flights to Cape Town from OR Tambo on Thursday (before the Easter weekend), around half were sold out, while for the 24 flights to OR Tambo on Monday, six were sold out by Monday lunchtime.

It is far trickier to see how many SAA and Airlink flights are fully booked, but both clearly don’t have capacity on all flights.

Lift still has seats across its seven flights on each day. Because of their new codeshare agreement, SAA and Cemair effectively offer each other’s flights on this popular route (with additional connectivity possible to destinations where either carrier does not fly).

Easter impact

The spike in demand for Easter can easily be seen when comparing return fares for May.

On SAA, these are at a more typical R4 200, while a ‘self-made’ long weekend on FlySafair has a fare of R3 200. A search on Google Flights for this route confirms that prices are currently “high”.

The just more than R6 000 fare referenced is on two separate airlines, with flights at less-than-sensible times on both Thursday and Monday.

Alternative destinations

Fares for flights to Durban have also rocketed due to demand.

A return FlySafair flight to King Shaka International Airport at similar times to the flights to Cape Town will cost R6 600.

Of this, the airline discloses that only R292 is its dynamic fuel surcharge fee (although according to new pricing, this is being upped to R245 for each leg).

On the Joburg-George route, which is increasingly popular, a flight on Thursday on FlySafair is R3 350.

There are no return flights available on Family Day (all six are sold out), with two options for Tuesday each costing around R4 150.

This means the total airfare for the long-weekend trip would be R7 500 per person.

There are ways to get a cheaper fare …

If you are willing to fly outside of peak times and move your departure and return later, you’ll be able to get to and from Cape Town for around R4 400 per person.

Plus, the fares compared here don’t factor in the impact of travel discounts on offer from various bank loyalty schemes or shared-value plans.

On Discovery Vitality, for example, typical discounts of around 40% are in play, depending on rewards levels, with some programmes offering up to 75% off.

And for those who don’t mind paying a lot more …

A return ticket for R9 000 might actually seem ‘cheap’ when compared to SAA Business class fares for this weekend. A return flight on these seats costs an eye-watering R13 700.

(On Lift, which has a Premium offering close to Business, a return is R11 960).

There is clear demand for this (no doubt especially from our elected officials and their entourages) with these seats sold out on six of the eight SAA flights to Cape Town on Thursday.

To put this in perspective, you could fly return on Emirates to London Heathrow for the same price on the same dates, if Dubai International is operating, of course …

This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.