Kulula is back in business… and the ‘ungrounding’ means that flight prices should return to normal for all local airlines.
South Africa (17 March 2022) – After almost a week of Comair being grounded, leaving local flight prices costing more than R3,000 for a one-way ticket, Kulula and British Airways will take to the skies again today and bring prices back down to an affordable rate.
On the 13th of March, Comair was grounded – at first as a precautionary suspension for a period of 24 hours after a recent spate of safety incidents at the Operator – but then indefinitely as the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) reviewed Comair’s quality control management system.
“The suspension follows the visit by the SACAA to the Operator to investigate and determine the cause of a spate of occurrences affecting a concerning number of flights operated by Kulula.com and BA Comair. The SACAA sought to confirm Comair’s compliance with applicable Civil Aviation Regulations (CARs). The inspection was also aimed at reviewing Comair’s quality control management system (QC) and safety management systems (SMS) to establish compliance related to reporting, analysis and follow-up on occurrences, and corrective action plans to prevent a recurrence.”
But this decision had a knock-on effect and caused local flights to escalate to an exorbitant rate.
Local airlines defended their high prices, explaining that “like other airlines worldwide, they use a “demand-based pricing” system. Our fares remain nice and low provided you book ahead and remain flexible on your travel dates and times.”
And this left a very bad taste in many South African’s mouths who took to social media to express their anger.
I'm tired of "oH iTs SuPpLy AnD dEmAnd" being the counterargument to the blatant greed that FlySafair is showing. Yes, we know economics 101. But we also know when we're being taken for a poes.
— Kirsty Bisset (@KirstyBisset) March 16, 2022
So apparently it’s a thing to exponentially increase prices because of demand (#FlySAfair is loving the current #Kulula situation) BUT how do we change that?
Like, how do we not let this be an okay thing? Or do we just let it go?
One way flight to CPT for reference: pic.twitter.com/s1pc3FEroG
— Brent Lindeque (@BrentLindeque) March 13, 2022
FlySafair is literally showing us what lack of competition does to prices.
Now imagine what competition would do to Eskom prices.
— KayD 🤡 vol. 2.0.2.2 (@BrotherKD) March 14, 2022
I've been looking at flights to JHB from CPT for the school holidays, and Flysafair starts at R1000 more than Kulula. Three weeks ago, their flights were R1000 cheaper than what Kulula is charging now. So in a month, they've practically tripled. It's madness.
— Kat Denningvleis (@Dukiswa) March 16, 2022
What FlySafair is doing to desperate, stranded passengers is exactly what Eskom will do to poor South Africans once its privatized, only the rich will have lights on.
— Khanyi 🌸 (@khanyizama) March 16, 2022
It's actually crazy that it's cheaper to fly to Istanbul in the coming week than it is to fly to to Cape Town(which Is 1:45mins away)
Fix things up @MbalulaFikile!! things seriously can't go on like this @FlySafair @kulula @LiftAirlineSA pic.twitter.com/0u18O7Ikt5— Sa'ad Saley (@saad_saley) March 14, 2022
This morning Comair announced that British Airways and Kulula flights will start operating again today following the SACAA reinstating Comair’s Air Operators’ Certificate.
“British Airways (operated by Comair) and kulula.com flights are operating again today following the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) reinstating Comair’s Air Operators’ Certificate.”
“Our focus is to get our operations back to normal as quickly as possible, and schedules will be restored in a phased manner.”
The ‘ungrounding’ means that flight prices should return to normal for all local airlines. The question is will you return to the airlines that had such high pricing during the last week?
*Comair asked customers to check the schedules on the airlines’ websites before coming to the airport. South Africans with existing reservations will be contacted directly. Customers who plan to fly in the next 72 hours, and have not been rebooked, should contact the Contact Centre on 0860 4 359 22 / +27 (11) 921 0222 (British Airways) or 086 158 5852 (kulula.com).
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