Economic expansion in the region and the huge growth in tourism along the Garden Route have prompted budget airline 1time to re-launch its route to George with an inaugural flight from Johannesburg on Friday.
The carrier pulled out of George in March, 2006, after six months due to lack of capacity, the Herald Online reported on Tuesday.
”We realised we could not cope with the demand because of a lack of aircraft. The company was growing rapidly and our fleet of six planes could not cope, so we decided to cut the Johannesburg-George route,” said 1time commercial manager Desmond O’Conner.
1time’s fleet has grown from six aircraft a year ago to 10 with the arrival this month of its latest MD/82, 157-seater aircraft from the United States.
O’Conner said with a fleet of 10 aircraft there would now be 250 flights a week nationally, compared with the carrier’s launch in March 2004, with one aircraft and three flights a day between Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Two new routes were introduced by 1time on Monday — a daily direct service between Cape Town and Durban and a six-day-a-week flight between Johannesburg and George.
The new routes and additional frequencies to other centres will grow 1time’s available seats to 1,5-million for the year.
”The decision to return to George was due to numerous requests from the public, since our competitors raised their fares quite heavily in the last six months.
”The airfare to George starts at R248, including airport taxes, which is about 25% lower than our competitors,” said Rodney James, 1time marketing director. – Sapa