A short six months after Mango Airlines introduced their new flight route operating between Port Elizabeth and Lanseria, the route has been shut down again. According to Mango spokesperson Sergio Santos-van Vuuren, passengers who had booked tickets would be reimbursed. ‘They will either be accommodated on our OR Tambo to PE flights or provided with refunds,’ he told HeraldLive.
He also added that a huge investment had been made to stimulate the market with sales campaigns and marketing drives, but that this had not quite taken off. ‘Unfortunately, the predicted demand did not materialise. There are no plans currently to add back the route in the future.’
The first flight on the Port Elizabeth-Lanseria route landed on 11 July 2019, and the route was shut down on 15 January 2020.
Nelson Mandela Bay economic development executive director Anele Qaba said the municipality was already looking at alternatives. ‘For the city, the route is important as it provides seamless access to travellers originating from the northern part of greater Johannesburg and some parts of North West province,’ reports TimesLive. ‘We are looking to fill up the capacity gap with at least four weekly flights to align with demand between the two airports.’
‘Added to this is the fact that SAA has been put [in] business rescue and, as Mango is a subsidiary of SAA, one would expect some form of coordinated approach. As SAA reconfigures some of the domestic and regional routes, Mango will be taking over some of them, especially on the domestic front.’
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