Valerie Mmanthe Mampshika,[Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and English].
The prices of airplanes are constantly hiking,and it is slowly becoming a privilege in South Africa to fly to Durban or Cape Town during school holidays with the family.
The Comair group has been receiving a lot of flight bookings through Kulula.Com over the years,and we can all agree that things have changed after the emergence of Corona Virus,and the rules which the airlines had to abide by were quite overwhelming.
Problems began when Comair was grounded on one of my trips earlier this year to Cape Town when flights were either cancelled or not full,and the prices started to increase,since Comair was believed to be a British Airways franchisee.
The operations were ceased in June this year,additionally South African Airways(SAA) is currently in talks with British Airways over the Comair franchise consensus,until then flying to other South African provinces will still cost R3000+ per passenger.
The cost of international flights has also rocketed,resulting from fuel price rising triggered by the war between Ukraine and Russia,therefore people need to save a lot of money in advance.
At the present moment booking plane tickets two or three months before the travelling date as suggested does not really make a difference,and for everyone putting the blame on the war sounds like a broken radio.
On the contrary,SAA was a airline owned by the government,but currently it is privately owned by Takatso Consortium leaving the government owning 49%.Till today South Africans do not comprehend why the airline is not fully owned by the South African government,although sufficient information by the Minister Pravin Gordhan(responsible for Public Enterprises) was supplied that the airline’s bankruptcy began 11 years ago.
Planes fly for approximately 2 hours or more to Durban and from Johannesburg,but driving to Durban is a little over 6 hours.
The travelling costs for drivers as a calculated estimation amounts to R500+ for toll gates,at least R1500+ for petrol,excluding food,drinks and accommodation,instead of spending spending R6000+ for 2 travellers only for flights.
Everyone needs to choose transportation wisely,it is either you drive safely or you book a plane ticket in advance,and receive your refund later on which might be inconvenient especially when you are travelling with your “bundles of joy”.
