CemAir grows network

15 Sep 2016 - by Hilka Birns

Domestic niche route operator, CemAir, is expanding its network and has grown its fleet with a new 50-seater Bombardier Dash-8 Q300 to boost capacity on its popular Margate and Plettenberg Bay services.

Co-Owner, Laura van der Molen, confirmed that a Cape Town-Hoedspruit route via Johannesburg, to be operated with the airline’s existing fleet of 50-seat Bombardier CRJ jets, was pending finalisation of operator changes at Hoedspruit Airport.

Last week, the airline announced it would launch flights between Bloemfontein and Port Elizabeth on October 4. The twice-weekly flights will be operated by a 19-seat Beech1900D.

Van der Molen said the new Dash-8 Q300 aircraft was a turboprop but offered a jet-like experience because of its noise-cancelling technology. It was able to land and take off on shorter runways, such as those at Margate and Plettenberg Bay, and therefore was ideally suited to boost capacity to these destinations during peak times.

National Sales Manager, Shaniel Singh, said Margate was CemAir’s most popular route, with 14 off-peak flights a week increasing to 22 a week in peak season. Traffic on the route is split equally between leisure and corporate, thanks to strong support received from the Margate business community. He said Plettenberg Bay was a seasonal leisure route, but CemAir was working closely with Plettenberg Tourism to boost traffic during the off-season.

CemAir has launched daily flights between Plettenberg Bay and Johannesburg, and has upped its flights to Cape Town to six flights a week. The new flights will commence on 1 October.

The airline currently operates three weekly flights between Cape Town and Plettenberg Bay. From Johannesburg there are five weekly flights, some of which are one way.

Meanwhile, planned CemAir flights to Grahamstown are on hold after the debt-ridden local municipality was unable to provide fire-fighting services at the Grahamstown Airport. Singh said CemAir had upgraded the airport (as it had done at Margate and Plettenberg Bay) but could not provide fire-fighting services as well.