/ 21 January 2008

New airline to offer flights to London at R1 999

A new South African airline called Redair has been given the rights to operate five weekly round-trip flights from Cape Town or Durban to Stansted in the United Kingdom, the Independent Online reported on Monday.

Andy Cluver, the chief executive of Civair, said he hoped the airline would start operating this year.

The Air Licence Council was to apply for four round-trip flights not used by South African Airways to be put back into a pool for redistribution among other airlines.

”There’s a lot still to do,” Cluver said, referring to his trip to the UK next week to look for one or two aircraft.

He was in the market for a Boeing 767-300ER, 777-200ER or 747-400.

The Redair service would not have first class -‒ just economy and business classes — and the latter would be similar to premium economy class on other airlines.

The lowest-priced tickets would cost R1 999 one-way, excluding airport tax.

Passengers would also pay for their meals and films, as well as access to the business-class lounge.

”You pay for what you want, so there’s no wastage.” – Sapa