Mango, SAA - rule the roost

21 Nov 2008 flights
surveyed on 25 Oct 2008

In a nightmare scenario for Kulula & 1time, the state-owned carriers rule the roost. Although Mango Airlines offer the cheapest (R959) flights from Cape Town to Durban, I would pay R20 extra and fly SAA (R979) - incidentally, the last time we surveyed CPT - DBN flights SAA was cheapest and Mango second cheapest (this week's result, with Mango cheapest, makes more sense).

Flights from Cape Town to Durban		Coaches from Cape Town to Durban
British Airways economy class leaves 1445, arrives 1640	1314 flight BA6315	Baz Bus (7 day pass)	1200
Kulula.com economy class leaves 1350, arrives 1545	1009 MN701	Citiliner coach	390
Mango Airlines economy class leaves 1850, arrives 2050	959 flight JE362	City to City coach	390
1time Airline economy class	no flights	Greyhound coach	495
SAA economy class leaves 1500, arrives 1600	979 flight SA616	SA Roadlink coach	599
SAA businesss class British Airways business class	2807 3286	Translux coach	510

Just to make sure that it's all about state-carriers, SAA is offering the cheapest business class flights from CPT to DBN.

Flight price inflation at 15%

We've measured an increase in flight prices of 15% over the last year, on the Cape Town - Durban route.

Flight date	Cheapest airline	Cheapest flight price
21 Nov 2008	Mango Airline	R 959
22 Nov 2007	Nationwide Airline	R 831

SA Roadlink push their price up

Coach prices have been pretty stable, except for SA Roadlink pushing their price up from R550 to R599 (a record high bus price on this route) - they are now very much the most expensive of the coaches from Cape Town to Durban.

Travel forum

We are extremely pleased to announce the launch of our South African travel forum, a spot where you can ask your travel questions, share the joys of your travel experiences with others interested in travel, and of course complain about the airlines! Because of the number of people who visit our site interested in cabin crew jobs, we have set up a seperate forum for jobs.

Melissa does the V&A Waterfront

Melissa's second day in Cape Town (she flew all the way from Singapore to shoot an Emirates print - she's a model). Here's a photo she snapped from the V&A Waterfront.

V&A Waterfront in Cape Town