As Comair announces its latest regional routes of Lanseria to Gaborone and Maputo, SA-based carriers confirm they are eyeing further regional routes up to three hours’ flight time from Johannesburg. Comair’s new routes, which follow the recent launch of a regional service to Dar es Salaam and further services to Harare and Windhoek, will be operated under the BA livery with the schedule including daily return flights from Monday to Friday from both destinations, and double-daily flights on specific days. Bookings went on sale on March 10.

Stuart Cochrane, executive manager for network development and alliances, says the schedule allows passengers to complete a full day’s work in these cities and return the same day. “As part of our broader network development strategy, we have been exploring the idea of a regional hub at Lanseria airport as part of our expansion plans into Africa. Lanseria has been identified as a well-positioned and popular travelling option for Comair customers living in the north and west of Johannesburg. Lanseria also offers lower airport taxes than OR Tambo and has a great track record of flights departing and arriving on time.” The intense regional expansion seen recently from SA-based carriers looks to continue as government moves to liberalise the region’s skies. “We are certainly seeing a very positive drive from our own Department of Transport to engage with other Southern African governments to further liberalise the current bilaterals in respect of air services agreements. However, as much as we push this, it still takes 'two to tango'.” 1time commercial manager, Desmond O’Connor agrees, saying regional countries tend to work against expanding airlines to protect their own national carriers. “On certain routes where we have grown numbers dramatically such as Zanzibar, we are trying to get some sort of marketing assistance but nothing has been forthcoming to date.” 1time, says O’Connor, has its eye on several new regional routes where it believes, if the price drops, the demand will increase substantially, like that of its Mozambique route. Cochrane says Lusaka, Lilongwe, Blantyre and Luanda are among the markets that could benefit from an alternative carrier to those currently operating on these routes. “It is less of an issue of routes being under-served. Rather it is an issue of lack of competition. Any new entrant on a route will effectively bring an alternative choice, additional capacity and, in all probability, competitive fares.” According to Cochrane, the kulula.com business model relies heavily on high volume in markets where there is good Internet penetration and hence the group would continue to operate its British Airways brand to grow its regional footprint. “As the African aviation market continues to mature, we could very well see certain markets as a target for the low fares model.”