SouthAfrica.TO survey |
3 August 2007 flights |
Comparison of flight prices from Johannesburg to Durban
1time airline |
British Airways |
Kulula Airline |
Mango Airline |
Nationwide |
SAA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
R429 |
R1104 |
R629 |
R427 |
R402 |
R518 |
Nationwide are back!
Last week Nationwide were an absolute disaster - their website wouldn't work and for the first time in the history of the SouthAfrica.TO survey we had to leave an airline out. Well, the good news is that Nationwide are back and the really great news is that they are on top of their game. We examined flights from Johannesburg to Durban leaving on the 3rd August 2007 between 1729 and 2036, and Nationwide flight 438, costing R402, was the cheapest; the flight leaves Johannesburg at 1810 and arrives in Durban at 1920. Nationwide uses a Boeing 737-200 for this flight.
Nationwide excel on the Durban to Johannesburg route
The last time we surveyed flights from Johannesburg to Durban Nationwide were also cheapest then (but with a price of R596) - the airline does well on this route. With their website not working last week they've redesigned their site. We like the new look of Nationwide's website - one thing they need to improve is to allow visitors to search for flights on their landing page. Visitors to their site need to click on "make a booking" to start searching for flights - and every extra click required reduces sales.
Fall in flight prices
In our survey of the 26th May the average cost of a flight from Johannesburg to Durban was R899, and it has now dropped to R585 - over R300 difference - timing is everything in securing a cheap flight.
Coolness in Johannesburg's heat
Given the fact that flights at Johannesburg's OR Tambo International and Cape Town Airports were delayed on the 26th June as a result of a rare day's snowfall in Johannesburg, one could be forgiven for thinking that global warming is a hoax. Of course weather patterns are chaotic (in the chaos theory sense), and when you interfere with a chaotic systems the highs and lows become more extensive - apparently 2007 on average is on track to be the second warmest year of the last 150 (and the warmest 10 years of the last 150 have occurred since 1990)...hopefully this means fewer snow-delayed flights between Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Pardon me Doctor, but are you a terrorist?
Bungling amateur queens of terror! The Glasgow Airport terrorist attack was an absolutely cowardly attack by misguided criminal doctors and in the wrong town - Glaswegians are known for their no-nonsense attitude:
"There was a guy in flames...So I ran straight towards the guy, we're all trying to get a kick-in at him." John Smeaton who was having a "fly-fag" in between his baggage handling duties.
And how would the security at South Africa's airports hold up against a similar attack: "There was a guy in flames, but nobody had pressed charges so we sat and watched."
Flights from London to Paris
We have been so encouraged by the popularity of the SouthAfrica.TO site, that we have established a sister site, www.AirFlights.TO, the first evolution of which is to expose the cheapest flights from London, Glasgow, Newcastle, Birmingham and Manchester. See our inaugural survey of cheap flights from London to Paris.
Lemon of the week : Mango 
This comment by Racine on our Johannesburg to Cape Town flights site: "I think Mango is a good airline, but they need to work on their leg room, there is not much leg room and we sit all squashed up". Editor's note: In South Africa Mango Airlines in our experience, has the least leg-room.
Holidays in Plettenberg Bay
Holidays in Plettenberg Bay are about to get that much easier. From September 2007, SA Airlink plans on offering flights from Johannesburg to Plettenberg Bay (and back of course!). Even better, ACSA may not be operating the airport (breaking of monopolies is a good thing).
More George flights!!!
From 11 August, 1Time airline is set to increase its flights from Johannesburg to George (and back!) to 6 weekly, with the additional flights being on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Good stuff, 1Time, and it's great for George and the Garden Route. We wonder though by how much the emergence of flights to Plettenberg Bay is going to reduce demand for flights to George in the fourth quarter.
Angola & Indonesia - countries in contrast
Recently the European Union blacklisted airlines from both Indonesia and Angola, and it's become clear that these two countries thave different approaches to aircraft safety. Every single airline in Indonesia was banned from flying in the EU (none actually do), whilst in Angola's case the national airline TAAG has been banned. Indonesia quickly announced a bunch of initiatives to improve safety, whereas Angola's response was to ban British Airways from flying in Angolan airspace. One would have thought that an accident on the day the ban came into effect would have served as an additional reminder that what they actually need to be doing is polishing up on their safety.
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