A new airline brings more travel options to South=20 African travellers. Andre van Zyl reports=20
A new airline, Avia Airlines, has taken over the slot=20 created by Virgin Atlantic Airlines to bring an end to=20 the domination of South African Airways and British=20 Airways on the lucrative and historic Johannesburg- London route.=20
Avia’s crew will take a Boeing 747SP — lease-purchased=20 from and maintained by SAA — on its maiden flight to=20 Gatwick Airport next week. =20
Avia Airlines is operated by holding company Avia Air=20 Charter which operates a fleet of turbine DC3 aircraft=20 and has been mainly involved in scheduled and=20 unscheduled freight and aircraft maintenance. =20
Commercial sales manager Johan Kay says Virgin Atlantic =20
Airlines’ Richard Branson originally challenged the=20 bilateral agreement between the South African and=20 British governments which made provision for one carrier=20 to fly each way on what was then “the most profitable=20 route in the world” and was given the right to apply for=20 a licence to operate direct flights =20 on the Johannesburg-London route.=20
He says Avia will be holding talks with Virgin in the=20 next two weeks and there is a “feeling towards some form=20 of mutual co-operation between us”. He adds that Virgin=20 now operates from Gatwick as well as Heathrow.=20
He said Avia would be looking at connecting flights to=20 other destinations from Gatwick. “We are also in the=20 process of dicussions with other airlines regarding=20 interline agreements.”=20
He said Gatwick was chosen because Heathrow was too=20 crowded and “we have very good departure slots at both=20 ends — which we probably would not have been able to=20 get at Heathrow.”=20
Kay believes that Virgin was kept off the South Africa=20 route largely because it could not get the departure=20 slots it wanted and because of its involvement in=20 opening other world routes.=20
British Airways welcomed the move by Avia to operate=20 flights between Johannesburg and London. David James,=20 British Airways general manager for Southern Africa,=20 says the route has always been profitable. =20
With South Africa back in the political, economic and =20 sporting mainstreams, passenger volumes both in and =20 out of the country are likely to grow. Passengers=20 could only benefit from the increase in competition that=20 Avia represents.=20
SAA spokesman Leon Els said that his airline’s interest=20 in the Johanneburg-London route was very high.=20
The addition of the Avia flights was an indication of=20 the importance of the Johannesburg -London route.=20