Fly 540 Africa

Category: News

  • World Travel Market Africa Set for 6-8th April in Cape Town

    To millions of travelers Africa is an amazing continent with everything for everyone. Whether you’re looking for primates, wine, culture, or wildebeest, look no further than Africa. This April, make a plan to be part of the World travel Market Africa scheduled to run from 06 to 08 April 2016 in Cape Town. The trade show will take place at Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) a grand venue which will create private and commercial opportunities for tour operators, photographers worldwide. Looking at a two year time frame the World travel Market (WTM) Africa has led to an increase in the visitor number by 18% resulting in a 39% increase in travel professionals.

    Africa will again provide exhibitors the opportunity to mix up with more quality travel industry professionals to confirm quality business deals for future prosperity and growth of the tourism sector. 2015 was a great year where the event had 7731 members generating $333 million in the industry business deals. However, the event organizers believe that the 2016 event will attract more exhibitors across the globe hence increasing the networking opportunities between exhibitors, buyers, visitors and media.

    Exhibitor space for the 2016 event has filled up quickly, with only a few spaces remaining open so the time is here to take up your position. For space inquiries contact the event organisers for more details. Most of the senior travel and tourism industry executives whose sole aim is to conduct business deals and gain knowledge from the very latest research, insights and opinions have already booked space just waiting for the day of the event. Buyers get a chance to know exactly where to find what when it comes to Africa travel holiday aspects giving way to amazing Africa trip experiences throughout the continent.

    The Event tourism exhibitors include hotel owners, tour operators who showcase different Africa countries attractions as well as culture. Free interactive moment is allowed between tour operators and buyers, processes which create awareness about different country attractions and location. Buyers get a chance to know the best travel periods, how much to look at in order to buy trips in a certain particular direction and what to see and find in such places.

    The World Travel Market simultaneously generate sales that later lead to launch new products, enter new markets, raise brand awareness, size up for more  competition, conduct market research, command press attention and develop and maintain relationships. Chardonnay Marchesi, General Manager of Africa Travel Week said: “We are very proud of the platform we have provided for the travel industry over the past two years. We look forward to achieving an increase in participation this year and to hosting another successful event in Cape Town this April”. Just show up any day of the event and check out what Africa has to offer for your upcoming holiday.

  • Bargain Hunters’ Bliss as Mad South African Airline War Returns

    WITH the South African rand at worse than 10 to the US dollar, it’s a bargain shopper’s paradise for international visitors and getting around the country is about to get cheaper.

    Domestic air fares have soared by more than 60% in the past two years, following the collapse of two independent low-cost airlines, leaving just the LCCs aligned with national carrier South Afrifcan Airways (Mango) and SAA’s main competitor Comair (Kulula).

    The exit of Velvet Sky in February 2012 and then 1Time in August 2012 hiked the cheapest fares on the benchmark Johannesburg-Cape Town route from around $US56 to around $US92 one-way as the remaining carriers tried to recover losses from the chaotic six-way competition that had existed until then.

    Fares for travel a month out on Kulula priced today start at around $US84 one-way.

    New LCC FlySafair, set up by long-time local charter airline Safair, has been granted a domestic air service licence after rivals Comair and wannabe airline SkyWise blocked the launch with a legal challenge, because Safair’s complex European shareholdings didn’t conform with strict local regulations that domestic airlines must be at least 75% South African-owned.

    FlySafair said it has been granted a domestic scheduled passenger license by the Air Services Licensing Council (ASLC) after revamping its ownership structure.

    “FlySafair has restructured its shareholding, getting rid of the shareholding that caused the problems, and at the same time, concluding the largest employee share ownership scheme in the aviation industry, effectively giving its South African employees a 25.14% stake in the company,” the carrier said in a statement.

    Air Transport World reported that Safair, which was founded in 1969 as an ad-hoc charter operator, has held international and domestic unscheduled licenses for nearly 50 years. The company retained the staff it hired for the FlySafair launch originally scheduled for last October by using them within the charter business.

    “This demonstrates our commitment not only to job creation, but also sends a clear message that FlySafair is here for the long run. We are eager to provide South Africans with an alternate low-cost airline that is dedicated to offering competitive and sustainable fares between Johannesburg and Cape Town,” Safair CEO Dave Andrew said.

    Andrew says that a new launch date will be announced later. FlySafair will initially fly six return services a day between Cape Town and Johannesburg using two 20-year-old Boeing 737-400s, with a third on standby, before expanding onto other routes.

    FlySafair Chief Financial Officer Elmar Conradie told South African TV this week: “We can expect ticket sales early in the second half of the year with flights starting soon after.

    “If we can start sooner, we will. We don’t want to go to the market and say 1 May and then it’s only 1 September. At this stage, we want to make sure all is ready so we can fulfill our promises.”

  • South African Airways Makes 20 years of Flying to Tanzania

    The class Airline committed to deliver sure services to the world including online check-in services & self check kiosks for travellers has finally made 20 years of flying between Johannesburg and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. South Africa Airways flies to 38 destinations worldwide from its hub with headquarters at Airways Park. The airline started operating flights to East Africa in 1995 on 25th October with three flights per week a routine which changed over years to flying twice daily between the two countries per a week due to the increased Tanzania holiday demand of south African every day.

    Tanzania is a country famed as the top destination for wildlife safaris in Africa with the most popular wildlife parks –Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater offering the finest safari holiday adventures for sole, group and family gate ways in Africa especially if timed during the annual wildebeest migration. Other parks and reserves include Selious, Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Ruaha ,Katavi and Gombe for Chimpanzee tracking hence, planning a holiday trip to Tanzania can be almost as exciting as the journey itself between the two African countries.

    Also the most relaxing island & beaches of Zanzibar is another Tanzania tourist spot and hundreds visit the place on purpose of getting complete relaxation in the sun after a great safari holiday adventure in the nearby parks of Tanzania and Kenya. The Island are just 20minutes flying from Dar-es salaam the countries capital. Magical scenery, views and happenings are the order of the day making tourists love the place each day.

    However, South Africa Airways operates Johannesburg – Dar Es Salaam flights using its new crafts – A320s, or A319s with exceptional quality business class which has also been well accepted by travelers worldwide. All flights are scheduled Monday to Sunday and the first day’s flight leaves Johannesburg-JNB at 10: 30 to Dar-es-saalam –DAR arriving at 14:55, followed by a flight which leaves Dar-es-saalam at 15:40 for Johannesburg arriving at 18:20 while the afternoon flight leaves Johannesburg at 13: 35 getting to Dar-es-saalam at 17:55 followed by the one which leaves Dar-es-saalam at 06:00 to Johannesburg arriving at 08: 35.if you are to travel to one of these countries please make it appoint not to miss out on any of the scheduled flights operated daily.

    You can also visit South Africa’s amazing tourism destinations-Kruger national park,the Table Mountain National park ,Cape town, Seychelles islands among others.Don’t again get locked to only two African countries you can also check out other Africa magical holiday destinations like Uganda ,Rwanda and congo for Gorillas, Zambia for the great falls, Botswana a great land of culture and wildlife, Kenya the wildlife haven ,Egypt and Ethiopia a place to memories the past. Explore great places and have stories to tell in future.

  • Qantas Purges Frequent Flyer Bargains and Rewards Big Spenders

    Travellers don’t yet appear to understand that, when the liability keeps growing as new frequent flyers join the program and start flying, it is inevitable that frequent flyer benefits must periodically be reduced.

    CHANGES to Australia’s biggest frequent flyer program were not only inevitable, but the professional points hunters saw it coming.

    In fact, much of the criticism since Qantas announced the tightening of frequent flyer benefits in favour of customers spending the most money has come from those aggrieved about the winding back of benefits for those flying in the cheapest seats, indicating that the changes are spot on target.

    And those who haven’t read the fine print need to get with the program: it isn’t fraudulent to offer benefits with a specific set of conditions if one of the conditions is that the conditions can be changed anytime the airline likes.

    Airline accountants have become very skilfull at juggling frequent flyer contingent liabilities.

    But travellers don’t yet appear to understand that, when the liability keeps growing as new frequent flyers join the program and start flying, it is inevitable that frequent flyer benefits must periodically be reduced, either continuously in small increments, or with less frequent, larger jolts, like last week’s changes at QFF.

    It is also inevitable that a number of Qantas frequent flyers will switch to the Virgin Velocity program, which is only nine years old and doesn’t have Qantas’s legacy issues. Anecdotally, Velocity members don’t face the same restrictions on travel dates and destinations as the Qantas program.

    However, Velocity’s membership has roughly doubled since 2011 when Virgin got serious about the Australian business travel market and it, too, will eventually face the same liability issues.

  • Kenya Tourism Board ‘Winner of Africa’s Leading Tourism Board 2012’

    Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) was voted Africa’s leading Tourism Board 2012 in the Africa category, at the 19th World Travel Awards.

    The World Travel Awards (WTA) capped its year-long search for the most popular travel and tourism brands in the world with its glittering Grand Final Gala Ceremony held in New Delhi, India, on 12th December 2012.

    Other African countries which competed with Kenya included Egypt, Namibia, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Morocco among others.

    “Kenya stood out for its sustained innovative and cutting edge marketing campaigns targeting both the traditional and new niche market segments, in an increasingly competitive global tourism industry,” said KTB’s Managing Director Muriithi Ndegwa who also appreciated the contribution of all the stakeholders towards this achievement.

    We are honored to be recognized as Africa’s Leading Tourist Board this year”, he added.

    The World Travel Awards, described by the Wall Street Journal as the ‘Oscars’ of the global travel and tourism industry, serves to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all sectors of the global travel, tourism and hospitality industry.

    The Award was first held in 1994, as a tourism industry initiative, with travel agencies, tour and transport companies and tourism organizations across the globe voting for the winners.

  • Cape Town Named Africa’s Best Beach Destination

    The spirited South African city of Cape Town has been named as the best beach destination in Africa at the 19th World Travel Awards.

    The annual event that took place last week resulted in numerous accolades for South African tourism and Best Beach Destination award for Cape Town.

    The South African city competed against previous winner Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt, Diani Beach in Kenya, Zanzibar Island in Tanzania, Bazaruto in Mozambique and Plettenberg Bay in South Africa for the top beach destination.

    Other South African winners included South African Airlines (Best Airline), 1Time (Leading Luxury Villa), Fairmont Zimbali (Leading Tourism Development Project), Shamwari Game Reserve (Leading Safari Lodge), Ellerman House & Villa (Leading Luxury Villa), Saxon Boutique Hotel, Villas & Spa (Leading Luxury Hotel) and The Blue Train (Leading Luxury Train).

    The 19th World Travel Awards winners of these legs compete in the WTA’s Grand Final to be held at The Oberoi Gurgaon on 12th December 2012.

    This is not the first time Cape Town is receiving such accolades. The city was named as the best travel destination in the world in a travellers’ poll conducted in May 2011 by TripAdvisor – the world’s most popular travel website.

    The website drew on millions of online reviews to name Cape Town as the top destination, ahead of leading destinations such as New York, Sydney and London, which also featured in the best ten.

    Cape Town, which is a beehive of activity, is a very popular destination among holiday makers from around the world. The self-evident attraction of Cape Town is the Table Mountain – an usually flat mountain that stands proud in the heart of the city.

  • Poaching Remains a Major Challenge in Kenya

    Poaching continues to pose a major challenge to wildlife conservation, especially in the conservation of target species – Elephants and Rhinos. Reported cases of poaching in the country remain at a high since November 2012.

    In the latest reported incident, authorities have intercepted a container at Mombasa port with ivory weighing 2 tonnes and valued at Kshs 100 million. The illegal consignment which was disguised as decoration stones originated from Tanzania and was destined for Indonesia. Separately, a family of 12 elephants was killed and their tasks carted away by poachers on Saturday 5th January, in Bisadi area, Tsavo East National Park. A team of KWS Rangers are pursuing the poachers.

    On the same day, thousands of miles away in the Far East, Hong Kong authorities intercepted 779 pieces of ivory weighing 1.3 tonnes and valued at $1.4m at the Hong Kong port. The container in which the illegal ivory was transported originated from Kenya; and was falsely declared as containing architectural materials. An x ray of the container led the customs officials to discover the ivory which was hidden in sacks and placed beneath stones.

    The Far East stands out as smugglers’ choice destination for sale of illegal ivory and animal trophies, due to a large illegal market supported by huge demand for ivory and high fetching prices.

    In October 2012, Hong Kong authorities intercepted 2 containers of illegal ivory weighing a total of 4 tonnes and valued at $3.4m. The containers originated from Kenya and Tanzania.

    There have been concerns over the rise in poaching since November 2012, when a significant increase in reported incidents was observed. This rise was attributed by KWS in part, to heightened operations against poaching thus bringing the problem into focus. Among the increased measures by KWS in the fight against poaching include involving local communities in the fight; and increased staff efficiency through acquisition of appropriate tools such as aircrafts, vehicles and firearms.

    Additionally, KWS commissioned last August the construction of a wildlife forensic and genetics laboratory at the organization head quarters in Nairobi. Among other functions, when completed, the laboratory will strengthen investigations through provision of evidence in the prosecution of cases of wildlife related crimes such as poaching; tracking genetic status of declining wildlife & determining special gene pools that require special protection. The facility is set to be the only one of its kind in East and Central Africa.

  • SkyTeam Launches Go Africa Pass

    SkyTeam, the global airline alliance, has launched its new Go Africa Pass providing cost savings and flexibility on flights operated by Kenya Airways within Africa. The pass is available to business and leisure travelers flying with any of SkyTeam’s 15 member airlines on an intercontinental round-trip to Africa or a Go Round the World ticket.

    Kenya Airways operates service to 45 African destinations in 36 countries including; Lagos, Nigeria; Accra, Ghana; Johannesburg, South Africa; Luanda, Angola; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Lusaka, Zambia; Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo and Cairo, Egypt.

    Customers purchasing a Go Africa Pass can opt from a minimum of three to a maximum of 16 flight coupons. Fares are calculated based on the number of miles flown non-stop, offering discounts of up to 75% off standard fares, depending on the itinerary. Coupons have no minimum stay, open-jaw itineraries are permitted and passengers can stop in each city multiple times – giving them complete flexibility to plan their trips. The Go Africa Pass is available for sale now, for travel starting on or after March 1st.

    “With continued demand for travel to and within Africa, SkyTeam’s Go Africa Pass complements our already comprehensive network of flights from key global cities to major African destinations,” said Jerome d’Anglejan, SkyTeam’s Director of Sales. “The Go Africa Pass enables passengers to explore Africa’s full potential by increasing their travel options throughout the continent.”

    Kenya Airways operates flights to Nairobi from Hong Kong and Guangzhou in the Greater China Region, as well as from cities in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Other SkyTeam airlines with services to Africa include: Air France, Alitalia, KLM and Delta Air Lines. Korean Air will start services to Nairobi in June. Future members, Saudi Arabian Airlines and MEA also fly to Africa.

    SkyTeam’s Go Africa Pass is one of a number of travel passes created by the alliance to offer flexible, economical travel to its global passengers. SkyTeam passes include: Go Round the World, Go China, and Go Europe. Customers can contact their local SkyTeam airline, reservation center or travel agent for details and bookings.

    For information about SkyTeam’s travel passes visit SkyTeam.com

    About Kenya Airways. Kenya Airways, a member of the SkyTeam Alliance, is the leading African airline flying to over 56 destinations worldwide, 45 of which are in Africa and carries over three million passengers annually. Kenya Airways is also a major employer with a workforce of over 4,200 employees. It continues to modernize its fleet with its 34 aircraft fleet being one of the most modern in Africa. The on-board service is renowned and the lie-flat business class seat on the wide-body aircraft is consistently voted among the world’s top 10. Most recently it has scooped top awards at the Africa Investor (Ai) Tourism Investor Awards and was declared the Business Airline of the Year in Africa. Kenya Airways takes pride for being in the fore front of connecting Africa to the world and the World to Africa through its hub Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

  • Mango Battles for Cheap Flights in South Africa

    The new budget South African airline, Mango, has stirred up the airline industry in South Africa with its drastic drop in prices. This development has been very interesting and the opinions differ on the consequence for air travel in Africa.

    Lately discussion has heated up between the several airlines and experts in the industry on this development, making it hard for consumers to understand all the fuss.

    Even one of our readers e-mailed us the other day saying ‘what is going on with Mango?’.

    Aggresive Pricing = Cheap Flights

    So far it is clear that Mango has opted for a strategy of aggressive pricing and is not afraid to offer extremely low prices. This has revolutionized air travel in the rest of the world and therefore it is good to see this development in Africa.

    The only ‘but’ in this case would be that Mango is a sister-company of SA Airways, which is also owned by the government. So in a way the taxpayer is paying for all the “cheap flights SAA flights”.
    Future for air travel and Mango

    I am still not convinved that the introduction of Mango is a positive step for SAA, as they might just be canabalising their own full-fair flights as I mentioned in a previous posts (and incorrectly speculated the name of the airline to be “Tulca”).

    I do belive there is an overall plus to the consumer and the South African travel industry however: Mango’s added competition will push the low cost carriers like kulula.com and 1time to maintain their low prices. Further, the marketing spend of Mango should raise awareness of low-cost flights in the public domain and hopefully inspire more low-to-middle income earners in South Africa to start flying!

  • SAA to Launch its Very Own Low-cost Carrier TULCA

    South African Airways (SAA) have officially announced that they will launch their very own low-cost carrier, called Tulca, at the end of the month.

    SAA CEO Khaya Ngqula says that “Passengers want no-frills and low-cost, and … we have to respond to what passengers want.” When asked what market share they hoped to capture by this bold move, SAA declined to give a figure.

    But I wonder whether SAA will really be able to gain market share from the likes of Kulula and 1time when it comes to cheap flights in South Africa. Major airlines around the world have tried their hand at cheap flights, without much success. In most cases they have simple canabalised their own business when people choose to book cheap flights with their low-cost brand, rather than full-rate flights on their established airline.

    Travel Start list a number of failed attempts by airlines to open low-cost carriers on its blog. For example:

    “BA started a ‘Ryanair killer’ called GO. They wanted to compete with Ryan on its Dublin-London routes. What happened? BA’s pasengers left BA for GO and thereby cannibalized their own business. BA were lucky. They managed to sell the loser company to a private equity firm that later sold it to Easy Jet. I don’t know what’s left of it.”

    Lets hope Tulca does not go the same way for SAA.

    Tulca is set to launch officially on 30 October 2006.