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FlySafair - a true low cost carrier for the long haul

The emergence of true low cost airlines into the South African market has undoubtedly benefitted the consumer as domestic airfares dropped across the board.

Our promise to our customers is affordability as well as easy and on time travel. In the month of February we achieved the best on time performance of almost 98% across all our routes.
— Elmar Conradie, FlySafair Financial Director
JOHANNESBURG, GAUTENG, SOUTH AFRICA, March 16, 2015 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The various airlines in South Africa have been the subject of a great deal of debate in the media in the last few weeks. Drops in the oil price coupled with government’s continued support of the national carrier have brought a great deal of focus on the industry, but there’s one player that’s quietly been making a success of the day-to-day running of an airline: FlySafair. So what defines a true low cost airline and how can it maintain this status in the long term? Elmar Conradie, Financial Director of FlySafair is determined that the airline will continue to keep its costs down and the service levels up and maintain a competitive edge in the domestic travel market for the long haul.

When Safair made the decision to launch a low cost carrier, we wanted to introduce the flying public to an alternative that didn't just offer them low fares as a special deal, but affordable prices on a consistent basis. Rather than following the trend of offering price cuts at regular intervals to attract passengers, we wanted to launch an airline that always operates from a truly low base fare.

Drops in the oil price coupled with government support for the national carrier have attracted much attention to our industry. A plethora of airlines have gathered under the “low cost carrier” banner to compete for their share of the domestic travel market pie, but Safair has already made our stance clear and we’re delivering on it. We’ve no need to get involved in any price battles and are more concerned with getting down to business and serving our passengers well.

Uniquely FlySafair also allows passengers to tailor make their own flying experience. Travellers in South Africa may initially have found this approach somewhat unconventional, but the figures are starting to tell an exciting story. To date, 45% of FlySafair passengers have elected not to check in baggage and to fly only with hand luggage. This reflects the national average of the 44% of travellers who regularly travel without baggage, effectively benefiting the airlines who carry them.

In increasing numbers, FlySafair passengers are recognising that with us, they don’t have to pay for services they don’t need. This pricing model is working well for us, with passengers paying for additional extra’s, such as pre-booked preferential seat selections, catering, extra-space seats and baggage, only when they need or want them. We are giving the customer the choice to determine the ‘price’ of his/her travel option.

Offering consumers a better package and developing ancillary revenue streams to support this offer is part of FlySafair’s robust business model, designed to buttress us against variations in the economic climate of the future. Other aspects of this business model include flying an single aircraft type, which makes it possible to keep our support services systems simple and skills requirements straightforward, and opting for aircraft that give us maximum efficiency for the market we’re carrying. The aircraft we’ve chosen are small enough to fill up on every flight, but big enough to allow us to charge an attractive fare, and we maximise their value with fast turnarounds. We’ve financed our aircraft smartly, without massive overheads or huge risk of exposure to the rand/dollar exchange rate, and we have secured our fuel at the best possible price.

Just because the ticket is inexpensive, doesn’t mean we skimp on the customer experience. Although FlySafair is a relative newcomer to the domestic air transport arena, we were born out of Safair, probably South Africa’s best known air logistics and specialised air services company, with 50 years of experience in the market. We like to think of ourselves as South Africa’s “oldest newest” airline and this gives us the unique old-world quality, values and attention to detail not found on other start up low cost airlines. We market well and harness technology that keeps our costs down, without undermining service quality.

Critical to any airline’s success is its On Time Performance (OTP). Nothing can destroy sales and reputation like repeated delays. At FlySafair we’re achieving an average OTP of 91.1%, and in February achieved an OTP of 96.80%, the best on time performance of all of South Africa’s low cost airlines for that month, and way above the airport target of 87%.

Evidence that the South African travelling public appreciates our pricing, schedules and destinations is our consistently high average load factor. Although we only started operations in mid-October 2014, we’ve carried in excess of 230,000 passengers and we’re fielding repeated requests to expand our choice of routes.

At FlySafair we truly believe that by providing reasonably priced fares, we’re helping to drive industry prices down, to the benefit to the flying public and the local tourism industry alike.

For further information or to simple book your next flight, visit www.flysafair.co.za

Chantal Riley
PR Worx
0118961818
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