Nascent South African Low Cost Carrier, SkyWise (SWZ), says it has already paid deposits on two Boeing 737-300s though operations, still scheduled for August as previously reported, will only begin once the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) issues it an Air Operator's Certificate. |
| Glenn Orsmond |
In an interview with BusinessDay, Mr Glenn Orsmond said since 1Time's (T4) demise last year, domestic travel in South Africa had been contracting. He added that it was not the airline's intention to take market share
away from established industry operators like mango (JE) or kulula (MN), but rather to fill the void left by 1Time's departure by providing affordable seats to encourage people who resume travelling once more.
Other established carriers in the market had not increased their capacity to replace the 2.5-million seats that 1time’s absence had created. "All they have done is to put up the price of tickets significantly," Mr Orsmond said.One of SkyWise's directors, Mr Rodney James, has stated that his team still "thinks" they are going "to make it in August" but will not open up reservations until they are absolutely certain.
SkyWise is eyeing a five times daily Johannesburg O.R. Tambo - Cape Town service to be plied with two B737-300s; one based in each city.
