No flies on Mango with new Bay routes

Mango's addition of the two routes - Johannesburg-Port Elizabeth and Cape Town-Port Elizabeth - follows the demise of former rival low-cost airline 1time.

Earlier this month 1time, which flew the Johannesburg-Port Elizabeth route, applied to suspend its services and filed for termination of business.

Mango chief executive Nico Bezuidenhout said the Port Elizabeth route was one of many planned for the next 18 months.

"There is a requirement for a low-cost carrier on the Johannesburg- Port Elizabeth and Cape Town-Port Elizabeth routes and Mango has brought forward its plans by a few months to accommodate market demand," Bezuidenhout said.

Mango communications manager Hein Kaiser said the company was excited by the introduction of the new routes. The additional routes had "always been on our radar", he said, but implementation of the plan was brought forward.

While he could not provide specific details on other routes, Kaiser said the airline was "looking at the African seaboard in eastern Africa".

Bookings opened yesterday on the new routes at a fare of R599 between Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth, and R699 between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.

"More than likely we will continue to be the most consistently affordable airline across our network," he claimed.

"We are not particularly aware of what our competitors are up to but we saw considerable value in taking the routes and they are very strong routes for us," Kaiser said.

He said the airline would "strongly consider" taking over any routes where demand was good.

"Domestically or regionally, if there is a strong business case and there is a demand, we would certainly consider it strongly," Kaiser said.