Last-minute long weekend flight price comparison
FlySafair and Lift offer the most affordable last-minute flight prices for this coming “long weekend”, a MyBroadband analysis has revealed.
Thursday, 21 March 2024 is Human Rights Day, and many South Africans are taking Friday off to take a long weekend.
Following several shake-ups in recent years, the airline industry could be set for another with South African Airways’ (SAA’s) sale of budget airline Mango finally moving forward.
The domestic carrier had been grounded since it went into business rescue in July 2021.
It was forced to do so following the challenges of inactivity during the Covid-19 pandemic, and Mango was put up for sale in 2022.
However, public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan delayed approving the deal, leading to Mango’s business rescue practitioners (BRPs) taking legal action.
In September 2023, the North Gauteng High Court ordered Gordhan to make a decision within 30 days.
The minister applied for leave to appeal the ruling, and the Supreme Court of Appeal denied the application on Friday, 15 March 2024.
In feedback to MyBroadband, Mango’s BRP Sipho Sono emphasised that there is a good chance Mango can be saved.
“The market definitely needs Mango to make a return,” he said.
In addition to Mango’s grounding, Comair shut its operations in South Africa, taking Kulula with it, in June 2022.
This leaves FlySafair, Lift, CemAir, Airlink, and South African Airways (SAA) as the country’s only airlines operating domestic flights.
Easter weekend flight prices
MyBroadband compared last-minute local flight prices from several prominent domestic airlines across three popular routes.
These include flights between Johannesburg and Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban, and Johannesburg and George.
It should be noted that domestic flight prices are demand and time-dependent, so prices may be inflated compared to flights booked far in advance.
FlySafair was the cheapest for flights from Johannesburg to Durban and George, while Lift offers the most affordable rates for flights from Johannesburg to Cape Town.
Lift’s pricing came in at R1,955 for the outgoing flight and R2,140 for the return leg, totalling R4,095.
This was nearly R400 less than the next most affordable option for the route, FlySafair, which charged a total of R4,454.
FlySafair’s pricing was the lowest for the Johannesburg to Durban return trip at R801 for the outgoing flight and R1,452 for the return.
Its total of R2,253 was just under R400 less than the next cheapest option, Lift, at R2,540 for the round trip.
FlySafair was also the cheapest carrier for the return trip between Johannesburg and George at R5,903.
Only two other carriers offer the route and our analysis revealed that prices varied significantly, with the next most affordable option costing over R1,300 more.
A comparison of last-minute Easter weekend flight prices for trips between Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, and George is provided in the table below. Pricing is for flights leaving on Friday, 22 March, and returning on Sunday, 24 March 2024.
| Easter weekend flight prices | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Airline | Outgoing | Return | Total |
| Johannesburg ↔ Durban | |||
| FlySafair | R801.00 | R1,452.00 | R2,253.00 |
| Lift | R620.00 | R1,920.00 | R2,540.00 |
| CemAir | R1,049.79 | R2,429.79 | R3,479.58 |
| SAA | R1,291.29 | R2,293.79 | R3,585.08 |
| AirLink | R1,000.79 | R3,276.29 | R4,277.08 |
| Johannesburg ↔ Cape Town | |||
| Lift | R1,955.00 | R2,140.00 | R4,095.00 |
| FlySafair | R1,652.00 | R2,802.00 | R4,454.00 |
| SAA | R2,500.79 | R2,638.79 | R5,139.58 |
| CemAir | R1,923.79 | R3,303.79 | R5,227.58 |
| AirLink | R2,572.29 | R2,905.79 | R5,478.08 |
| Johannesburg ↔ George | |||
| FlySafair | R3,101.00 | R2,802.00 | R5,903.00 |
| CemAir | R2,970.29 | R4,350.29 | R7,320.58 |
| AirLink | R3,546.08 | R4,209.29 | R7,755.37 |
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