Kulula news

Kulula vs Mango
Kulula flight specials

10 May 2013

You can now take secure your seat before your flight at a cost of R35, by taking advantage of Kulula's pre-paid seats (sadly, this does not include the emergency exit seats - for safety reasons these must be allocated at check-in).

8 Apr 2013

Kulula is colourful! It was voted by Skift as one of the top 20 most colourful airlines in the world.

Mar 2013

Kulula flights the new Europcar moving your way logo with the "e" on it, on the livery of its new Boeing 737-800

SouthAfrica.TO design a new aircraft, claiming it is the Most South African Airways:

Kulula also do a redesign of their initial plane! Creating "A Very, Very South African Airways".

3 Mar 2013

In a cheeky advert in the Sunday Newspapers, Kulula claim to be the "Most South African Airways" - let's see what South African Airways have to say about this!

1 Mar 2013

JNB-ELS flights commence in Boeing 737-800 planes. Johannesburg flights are from O.R. Tambo International Airport. “We have introduced this route to meet the demand for flights in and out of East London, and support the economic growth of the Eastern Cape region. We are pleased to be able to address the needs of our kulula fans in East London by making it easier and more affordable to fly from this city.” says the marketing manager of Kulula, Nadine Damen. Bookings open on the 28th November 2012.

29 Jan 2013

Kulula offers travel insurance covering personal accidents, flight delays, baggage loss and flight cancellation.

28 Nov 2012

Identifying the 100 most uniquely South African people, to pack together on a Kulula Most South African flight.

16 Oct 2012

Kulula has teamed up again with the Smile Foundation to sponsor 4 children to receive facial animation surgery to enable them to smile again (1 in every million suffer from facial paralysis). The marketing manager of Kulula, Nadine Damen, said:  “We are delighted to be part of such a worthy initiative with The Smile Foundation for the second year running. These surgeries will literally give these children the chance to smile – a natural ability that most of us take for granted.”

8 Oct 2012

Kulula was the only South African airline competing at the international SimpliFlying Awards, and won 2nd place for Excellence in Social Media, behind American Airlines. “We are delighted with the result of 1st Runner Up in this global competition and so proud of our passionate team whose commitment to please clearly stood out.” said the Kulula's Marketing Manager, Nadine Damen.

25 Sep 2012

Air-to-air shoot of Kulula's new Boeing.

25 Jul 2012

Kulula's ridiculously posh new Boeing launch. I love the planned seating arrangement - Brett Murray seated next to Zuma's 1st wife!

22 Jul 2012

Kulula's iconic flying 101 plane spotted at Lanseria Airport.

Jul 2012

Here's a video of Kulula's newest plane being put together, several days work compressed into 2 minutes, from the parts being delivered by train to the aircraft pushing out of the hanger.

Jul 2012

Kulula launches a new-look website, with new functionality. The new system operates on a platform called "Sabre". Flight extras can be purchased online, for instance extra bags. With e-ticketing, passengers need only show their ID (or drivers licence/passport) at check-in to receive a boarding pass. A downside of the new system is the loss of the bargain browser, which used to allow customers to see the prices on a route on each day of the month.

All Port Elizabeth Kulula flights are suspended until the end of July.

18 Jun 2012

Kulula Airline reveals its marketing secrets, in this interview with Heidi Brauer:

Heidi Brauer: I get to work with amazing people all day, who challenge the way we do things and who are incredibly creative and love to do things green.
Interviewer: Absolutely green! Well, right now we have got this plane in front of us, which is a phenomenon around the world, it's the flying 101 plane of Kulula. So, tell us the story behind that switch, I mean SimpliFlying.com went down when they posted this plane on our site.
Heidi Brauer: Well, as long as it was only the website that did that! So, each of our aircraft is decorated individually and our team, we've got our own team of people who design the aircraft exteriors, it's quite a talent cause you have to know where you can paint and where you can't and where you get wear and tear and so on. And it's quite a challenge cause our customers love to say: Oh I flew on flying 101, or I flew in camo plane or I flew in cow plane. And this one we've really, honestly, we've got a file like this of, we don't have enough aeroplanes for the amount of designs we have.
Interviewer: We should start selling them and count that as ancillary revenue.
HB: Ja, we should do that hey. Anything counts these days. So, this was one of our team members', one of our young designers, I mean it was just an incredible idea that we just knew everybody would love. And it was designed in-house and painted internationally, overseas, and was spotted by a plane spotter, who photographed it and I think that's why it got so much incredible coverage straight away, because it spread all over the world. It's been emulated, simulated, copied, in fact we've copied it. We've got a car called cruising 101, I'll have to show you a picture of that. We did a campaign to celebrate our tenth birthday, where we said that we were gonna fly to Mars, cause one of our pilots calculated that we've actually flown enough miles to fly to Mars and back, and we've got a spaceship called, um, about flying to Mars, so this has really had legs and wings.
Interviewer: Very nice. So this flying to Mars, was that an April Fools joke?
HB: No, no, it wasn't an April Fools joke.
I: But you do pull off some quirky campaigns, like "fourth wife flying free"?
HB: Yes, we do. We do quirky campaigns a lot. I think our ad agency and creative spend, they probably don't sleep too much. But, look, we don't do them for nonsense's sake, we try to do things that are relevant and meaningful, and when people see them they go: yeah, yeah, makes sense. It's not like: oh Kulula's doing another quirky campaign. So "fourth wife flies free" was something that in fact came up on Thursday as an idea, and was live on Friday.
I: That was last week.
HB: Yes, that was last week.
I: Brilliant. And, is that an incentive to get married four times?
HB: Well, if that's what floats your boat, then that's ok. But it was acknowledging our charismatic president, who was married for the fourth time, actually for the sixth time.
I: The sixth time?
HB: The sixth time, but his present fourth wife this weekend.
I: Wow, that's phenomenal. And then there were also a number of quirky campaigns, especially during the World Cup, you had this Fifa campaign running with the president's name on it, the Fifa president.
HB: We did. In fact, that was another one that just evolved and it wasn't a campaign. People have asked me, how did the campaign get born. It was a great story to tell, it is a great story to tell, because what happened was, we were taking a lot of flack in the airline industry in this country because people thought we were putting up prices unreasonably, so we put an ad out to say actually you can fly over the World Cup, but Fifa had put incredible restrictions where they said, you can't say "soccer", and you can't say "soccer balls" and you can't say "World Cup 2010" and you can't say anything, so, our ad, our creative, was all about pricing and affordability, but it did push the boundaries of what was legal. And we did consult, so we weren't trying to be disobedient. We did push the boundaries a little bit, and no sooner had the campaign aired, well in fact, it was one ad, that we heard very quickly from Fifa's lawyers, who said: You will not. So we pulled that ad. But then we made another one. And soon, the global media just latched on. And the local media. Because South Africans at the time were just up to here with being told what to do by Fifa.
I: Right.
HB: Cause it was supposed to be a celebration, and it wasn't feeling very celebratory.
I: So again, just a recon, anyone with the same name as the president of Fifa would have flown free, is that right?
HB: so, in fact, that was probably the third or fourth little bit in this campaign that wasn't a campaign. What we did was we said, if your names Sepp Blatter we will fly you for free. And that ad was once in the Sunday papers and wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, a dog contacted us, well actually his master did, and said well my dog's called Sepp Blatter, so will you fly him for free? So, we keep our promises.
I: So did the master pay and the dog flew free?
HB: Well, the dog got to fly around, and we did take his master with him, as well.
I: Ok, that's a fair deal. Now, it seems like it's a factory of creative ideas. There's an email that I keep receiving, once every couple of months, which has a list of inflight announcements by Kulula: Oh Sorry for the delay, you have now landed in Zimbabwe, or something like that. How is this built in with the culture?
HB: Well, you know, it's incredible. That email, I get it too, every couple of months, and people say: incredible viral marketing, but I think that one was a real virus cause it started out all by itself, and I think some people add to it, cause some of them really are our own onboard announcements and some I think are additions and amendments that have made their way around the world.
I: You can start using them perhaps.
HB: Ja, I think that we definitely can do that. Look, when Kulula began, it really was the whole initiation of low fares actually and we had to break through the clutter of the old fashioned of when you fly you need gloves and a hat and that it's a whole, sort of, classy not-for-everybody kind of thing. And humour was used to do that, so the humour has been part of Kulula's DNA from the very beginning. So it's not something put on, or something unnatural. People say: do you hire your cabin crew for their sense of humour? Well, we don't, we hire them as safety officers first and foremost, but it does help if they have a personality and a sense of humour. And we don't legislate what they have to say, safety announcements first, with a Kulula twist.
I: I wanna learn how it's different with other airlines, for example, to be specific: the dancing flight attendants, on Lady Gaga, actually that was a graduation ceremony dance, so all the flight attendants put that together and then it went viral. At South West, flight attendants are regularly encouraged to add some personal touches and humour to it. Is that a practice, or does that just come naturally?
HB: Ah no, it's definitely a practice and they are encouraged and taught and mentored how to do it, and you know, we have an incredible culture in this country of laughing at ourselves and with ourselves, and we've got eleven official languages, and we really are the rainbow nation, so that's great material to work with. And sometimes we tiptoe on cultural sensitivities a little bit and we have to pull back and every now and then we annoy somebody, but it's always in good spirit and good humour, and it's just the Kulula way. And what's interesting is how we've had to up our level of sophistication with our humour, cause when we began we really were cheap and cheerful and more comic kind of humour, but more than half our customers now are business people, and they're flying frequently.
I: More than 50% are business customers? Flying for business?
HB: Yes.
I: Not necessarily a business class product though.
HB: Yes, absolutely.
I: Wow, that's a perfect hybrid airline in that emergent sense.
HB: In seeking a definition, yes, that'll do.
I: Right, now, you're big on Facebook and Twitter as well, more than 20 000 fans on Facebook I think it was, over 10 000 followers on Twitter. How do you see this Kulula brand translating online?
HB: Well, you know, our team believes, that there are many media, and we don't see social media as a separate thing, so when we talk about a campaign, for example, our "fourth wife flies free" campaign, we immediately consider all our channels and pick the ones that are the most appropriate. So, we don't have some social media person sitting in a little room, somewhere sitting by herself, or himself. So, we really believe in integrated communications and we just live and breathe that and I think that's, if you're honest and if you're genuine, if you talk media you do it in a thoroughly integrated way, and your agency can do that, then you've got the best chance of success.
I: So then is social media in house in the company, or is that an agency handling that?
HB: It's in house, in the company.
I: And I'm guessing it's a divided role, that multiple people are handling.
HB: Um, yes, because you know what happened, when we started, it was a marketing kind of function and you know what happens it becomes a channel for customers, a service channel for customers, so it divided and it does live in between marketing and customer experience now.
I: Well, there's always this talk, especially at conferences about ROI and return on investment for quirky marketing especially. Which have been the most successful campaigns for you in terms of ROI?
HB: Well, you know, it's always tough, I think the tendency with social media and social media marketing or new marketing, is that it's demonstrable in terms of hits and links and so on, easy to measure ROI. But the truth is, ring fencing where the source of your information came from when you made a booking or ring fencing brand building initiatives and seeing what the ROI or the return on marketing investment is, is really tough, because brand building happens over time and over years, and people develop an affinity which will put you in the competitive set when they come to make a choice, will make them more or less sensitive to pricing when they are making a choice, will make them tolerate or not tolerate poor experience or a service disruption or whatever it might be. So being able to say, people booked with me because they saw my billboard is not a really mature….

23 Jun 2012

Kulula implements its Sabre Airline Solutions. Amongst the changes are:

• Multicity bookings can be done in the same transaction

• A new notification system which will "ensure we deliver up to date info as it happens via SMS"

• "Traveller details must be the same as on the traveller identification, as no name changes can be made at a later stage"

• "Flights will only be confirmed, once payment has gone through, so the first to pay will be the first to fly"

• "You’ll be able to make one online change. For a small fee, further changes can be made through our Contact Centre on 0861 KULULA (585852)"

1 Apr 2012

In what is becoming annual bit of Kulula fun, it is announced on April Fools Day that Kulula water landings will be taking place at the Hartbeespoort Dam in order to keep costs down.

Feb 2012

For R26/traveller/flight you can now purchase Kulula travel insurance, which covers:

• Flight cancellation (in the event of medical or other specified conditions) up to the total original flight cost

• Baggage up to R10 000 (plus valuables up to R2 500)

• Baggage delay R500 per 3hr delay up to R3 000

• Flight delay R500 per 3 hour delay

• Personal accident R25 000

11 Jan 2012

Kulula's inflight magazine, Khuluma, will from now on be published by Picasso Headline (part of the Avusa Media Group). Previously it was published by Pixelink24, which is part of Media24.

16 Dec 2011

The first ever flash mob on a Kulula flight, as dances promoting 8ta (a Telkom cellphone subsidiary) get out of their seats and dance in the aisles.  The Marketing Executive of 8.ta., Stephen Blewett, said that “We’ve decided to engage with the public in this manner to highlight the fact that December is playtime for South Africans as we all embark on our holidays, mostly to various coastal destinations. Having fun is part and parcel of the 8.ta brand and we are celebrating summer.”

Nov 2011

Kulula changes its baggage allowance policy to a piece system, where only 1 piece of luggage weighing up to 20kg is allowed to be checked in, for one person. Anything above that is charged for.

29 Jun 2011

Kulula launches Daddy's Deals to its jetsetters, an newsletter which will provide discount offers to subscribers (such as restaurant & spa discounts, the type of thing which Zappon & Groupon are running with).

27 Mar 2011

Comair changes from using Kulula branded aircraft to British Airways branded aircraft on the Durban - Port Elizabeth - Cape Town flight route.

Comair Limited's Executive Manager for Group Marketing, said Heidi Brauer, said: “We are experiencing demand for premium travel options to coastal destinations, mostly from the increased number of business travellers on these routes. British Airways will therefore be taking over the servicing of these routes from low fare carrier kulula.com from 27 March 2011, offering travellers the full service Club (business class) experience as well as Executive Club benefits. Furthermore, the current BA flight configuration and aircraft types are better suited for these routes, further enhancing operational efficiency.”

27 Feb 2011

Kulula pilot, Captain Margaret Viljoen, was temporarily blinded by a laser pointed from the ground, whilst landing flight MN455 from Cape Town at Lanseria Airport, and had to look away from the ground and rely on instruments to land the aircraft.

13 Feb 2011

Kulula.com offer cows for Kate and William for lobola.

Jan 2011

Comair announces that they have secured rights to operate flights to Maputo with 420 seats per week. Comair plans to start services from Johannesburg's Lanseria Airport in the first half of 2011, using both the Kulula and British Airways brands.

19 Dec 2010

Closing date of the Kulula Sky Poster competition on Facebook.

10 Sep 2010

Cheapest daily prices for Kulula Airline in November 2010, R299 for Cape Town to Port Elizabeth or Durban to Port Elizabeth flights.

21 Jun 2010

Sepp, a Boston Terrier, receives free flights around South Africa on Kulula planes, following an offer to fly the Fifa President (the dog's owners said the offer didn't specify which Sepp the ad referred to, so they changed their dog's name to Sepp).

8 Apr 2010

Satish Makan has his complaint upheld by the ASA Directorate, that Kulula's adverts do not state that the prices are for 1-way trips.

Sep 2009

The Kulula connect radio campaign wins a Bronze Loerie awards.

Aug 2009

In the Sunday Times Top Brands survey, Kulula comes 2nd behind BA Comair.

Jun 2009

Kulula get into the spirit of the Confederations Cup football, by painting the nose-cones of their planes to resemble footballs.

21 May 2009

Flight Centre outlets stop selling Kulula flights, after they could not agree a suitable remuneration model with Kulula.

May 2009

Heidi Brauer is appointed executive manager of group marketing for Kulula. She was previously deputy CEO of Markinor.

6 May 2009

Kulula reduces its free checked luggage allowance from 23kg to 20kg.

8 Apr 2009

Kulula introduces a fee of R50 per trip for infants and allows 1 free checked bag weighing up to 10kg plus a collapsible pushchair and a child car seat, tickets purchased for infants prior to 08 April 2009 were not subject to this fee and also not entitled to 10kg free baggage allowance.

Dec 2008

At the Feather Awards, Kulula is voted best low cost carrier at the Port Elizabeth and George airports.

Nov 2008

A Creative Circle Award is given in recognition of Kulula's radio campaign.

28 Oct 2008

Kulula increase the frequency of their Johannesburg Lanseria - Cape Town (from 1 to 5 on Sundays, from 3 to 6 on weekdays) and Johannesburg Lanseria - Durban (to 2 daily, except Saturdays) flights. At the same time Johannesburg Lanseria - Port Elizabeth flights are being scrapped.

2 Oct 2008

Kulula Connect launches an online shop (powered by Altech Autopage Cellular) where you can browse, build and buy a cellphone package with any of Cell C, Vodacom or MTN.

2 Sep 2008

Kulula redesigns its website, seperating it into Kulula Air, Kulula Travel, Kulula Connect & Kulula Card.

27 Aug 2008

Kulula launches 3 sub brands - Kulula Air (flight, car, hotel and taxi bookings), Kulula Travel (online travel site for booking package holidays) & Kulula Connect (cellular and data packages).

Aug 2008

The Markinor Sunday Times "Top Brands" survey places Kulula 2nd in the domestic South African Airlines category.

13 Aug 2008

A Kulula Boeing 737-400 on route from George to Johannesburg runs into pressurisation problems when hitting cruising altitude. Oxygen masks drop as the plane descends and returns to George.

22 Jul 2008

Kulula celebrates its 7th birthday by offering R147 in Kulula moolah to its credit car holders.

21 Jun 2008

Kulula announces that it will be offering Kauai's cuisine on board its flights.

21 Jun 2008

Kulula teams up with Netflorist to provide an email reminder service for anniversaries and birthdays (and to flog Netflorist flower arrangements).

2 Jun 2008

Security breach on a Kulula flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town, as rules are broken to allow a lady into the cockpit.

May 2008

Kulula establishes its Jetsetters club, a loyalty club whereby you can earn Kulula moolah for booking flights.

3 May 2008

A Kulula flight MN755 from Cape Town International Airport (on its way to Port Elizabeth) scrapes its tail on taking off and lands again at the airport (nobody hurt). Passengers are delayed for 12 hours in Cape Town whilst parts are flown down from Johannesburg.

17 Apr 2008

With the planting of a tree at Monde Primary School in Katlehong, Project Green is launched. Project Green is a partnership with Food and Trees for Africa aiming to plant grass and trees in developing areas which have deteriorated. When booking flights donations from R10 to R200 can be made towards the project.

11 Mar 2008

Minister of Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, announces a joint venture between Kulula and SA Tourism to put together low cost holidays in South Africa (focussing on Cape Town, Durban, George, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth). Kulula will put together affordable packages with small tour operators and Bed & Breakfasts.

1 Mar 2008

SouthAfrica.to picks up that Kulula have started including airport taxes in their flight prices again.

29 Feb 2008

Kulula's last scheduled flight in an MD82, all Boeing 737s from this point.

26 Feb 2008

Kulula announces its intention to launch Kulula Wealth, a joint venture with Liberty Life.

30 Jan 2008

Some 15 minutes after taking off, a bird flies into one of the engines of Kulula flight MN702 from Durban to Cape Town, forcing the pilot to shut down the engine and return to Durban Airport.

4 Jan 2008

Kulula.com wins the SouthAfrica.TO 2007 award for record cheapest flight on the Cape Town to Durban flight route, the Johannesburg to Cape Town flight route as well as the record cheapest flight in South Africa overall in 2007.

Aug 2007

In Skytrax's 2007 survey, Kulula airlines was voted the best low cost carrier in South Africa (and indeed, in Africa).

Apr 2007

Airfares can be paid for with eBucks.

29 Oct 2007

Good news for Kulula Lanseria fans. The airline starts operating flights from Johannesburg's Lanseria airport to Port Elizabeth and Durban (as well as increasing the frequency of its flights from Lanseria to Cape Town to 3 per day).

18 Aug 2007

The Kulula credit card is launched, in partnership with FirstRand Bank.

July 2007

Kulula starts excluding airport taxes from their advertised flight prices (they indicate what the airport taxes will be at the bottom of the page). Subsequent to this, 1time airline starts advertising their flight prices as "unlike Kulula, these prices include airport taxes". In March 2008 Kulula start including airport taxes in the flight prices again.

Apr 2006

Teaming up with Discovery Health, and Vitality members are offered cheaper Kulula flights.

Feb 2006

Kulula begins operating flights between Lanseria (Johannesburg) Airport and Cape Town International Airport.

Jan 2005

Members of the SAPS (SA Police Service) & their immediate family are offered 1-way flights at fares lower than R300.

Mar 2004

Computicket becomes the first non-travel agent to sell flights, when they start selling Kulula products (including car hire with Imperial & accommodation with Protea Hotels).

Jan 2004

Protea Hotel partnership is established, and pax can reserve a room online.

Aug 2003

Johannesburg to George flights commence.

Apr 2003

Flight routes are opened between Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.

Jan 2003

ACSA votes Kulula has being the best airline flying domestic South African routes.

2002

Imperial Car Rental team up with Kulula to start hiring vehicles with flights.

2001

The flight route between Durban and Johannesburg is opened.

Aug 2001

Operations commence with daily flights between Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Jul 2001

Kulula Airlines is established, after Comair decided to start a low-cost airline