John Fraser
12 January 2004
Johannesburg — THE regional British Airways operation, run by listed transport company Comair, had won the rights to start services from Johannesburg to Livingstone in Zambia and to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, the company said at the weekend.
This will allow the airline to expand its regional operations into two new potentially lucrative markets and to expand its profile in subSaharan Africa.
"We have been awarded three return services a week on each route although we will seek to run more than three a week to Dar es Salaam," said Comair's CE Pieter van Hoven at the weekend.
"We are looking towards integrating these destinations in the next couple of months."
He said that the new routes were awarded at the end of last year, and it was still too early to say when flights might start.
"Livingstone is a very popular destination, particularly because Zimbabwe is not being very positively portrayed," said Van Hoven.
The Comair would not be drawn on whether the service to Livingstone might eventually replace British Airways' existing service to Victoria Falls.
The destinations are close to one another and both afford the opportunity to visit the Victoria Falls, one of Africa's major tourist attractions.
"If the crisis in Zimbabwe persists, it could have a serious longterm impact on our business to Victoria Falls," he said.
British Airways' other existing regional destinations outside SA are Windhoek and Harare.
Van Hoven said that the opportunity to fly the route to Tanzania arose when South African Airways took over Air Tanzania, making way for a new competitor.
"The market is growing, and it is a good entry point for the east Africa game parks, " he said.
"We will link up with (the UKbased) British Airways, which serves Dar es Salaam from London."
Van Hoven said that Comair was in a closed period and unable to comment on the finances of the company, which released a profit warning last month.
Comair also owns the kulula.com airline, which will soon face a new competitor once new player 1time enters the South African domestic market.
This new airline had originally indicated it would have been operating over the Christmas period, but is expected to launch a Johannesburg-Cape Town service soon.
As a result of the extra competition, further fare cuts are likely to be announced by kulula.com, and this could be a factor in the airline's profitability.
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