Airlink will suspend its services from Pretoria’s Wonderboom National Airport to Cape Town, as of May 8.
The route has been in operation since mid-August 2015 but has not performed according to expectations. “We believed that Pretoria Wonderboom would be a unique value proposition for our customers travelling between Pretoria and Cape Town. The Wonderboom airport offers many special characteristics, including easy access from the N4 via the K97 off-ramp, abundant affordable parking close to the terminal, quick access to check-in, no congestion, a stunning business lounge, excellent amenities, and aircraft parking right in front of the terminal building, thus facilitating the ‘walk on walk off’. With everything going for it, we expected more comprehensive support and achieved fares that are on par with those achieved at OR Tambo,” says Airlink CEO, Rodger Foster.
The four daily return flights used a combination of 83-seat Avro RJ85 and 37-seat Embraer ERJ135LR regional jets.
“Sadly, the route has not become profitable, despite our collaborative best efforts – including significant marketing initiatives by the City of Tshwane, to promote the connection. The combination of operational constraints on the size of aircraft that can be used on the route and the poor state of the economy have not helped,” says Foster. “The Wonderboom airport runway is 1 828m long, and given the high summertime temperatures, is not suited to certain aircraft types. It is, however, suited to Airlink’s ERJ135LR and our E170 and E190 EJet variants. The unit costs of our smaller regional aircraft are higher than competing aircraft in the same market.
“Success has many measures, including sustainable viability. Unfortunately, the route’s economic performance has not evolved into profitability, in that operating costs exceed revenue.” This includes average year-to-date occupancy levels of 74.57%.
He says government’s belt-tightening efforts, which include government-related travel, also played a role. “Government has been in a travel cut-back for the past 18 months. The Pretoria-Cape Town air service targeted the civil service travel, given the nexus between the two capital cities. In fairness, government travel is only a portion of the economic underpin to sustainable viability. The economy has not performed well in recent months, and consequently both business and leisure travel have seen cut-backs.”
Foster says Airlink is not closing the door on the route, as a Pretoria-Cape town connection is important and could be potentially viable in the future. “With this in mind, we will continually re-assess the market and the economy so that we can resume the service when the conditions are conducive.”
