Plans by Nationwide Air, a domestic South African carrier, to link with Virgin Atlantic in starting a new service between Cape Town and London Heathrow have met with initial failure.
Nationwide had applied for a temporary licence to fly the route weekly using a wet-leased Virgin Airbus A340, but the South African authorities were not convinced that the diminutive local carrier would have effective control of the service. Virgin itself was recently granted a single weekly service to Cape Town and is pursuing rights to take that up to at least four times a week. Virgin's Richard Branson concedes that operating a single flight is a "painful experience" but gives the carrier a foot-hold in Cape Town as discussions continue with the South African authorities.
However, both carriers deny that the deal represented a backdoor attempt to win new frequencies. Virgin's general manager for Southern Africa, Mackenzie Grant, says Nationwide had approached it for a wetlease aircraft even before Virgin had been granted its own weekly service. "Similar codeshares have been permitted in the past in South Africa. We will study those to see how they were done before re-applying," he says.
Nationwide chief executive Vernon Bricknell backs up the claim: "This was our idea. We approached Virgin to assist us in our stated intention to start flying internationally. We planned a skills transfer for our staff and training for our crews. We also planned to appoint a sales agent in the UK."
Undaunted by the initial setback, Bricknell says his airline will re-apply for a permanent licence once it has addressed the concerns raised. He adds that the request for a three-month licence - itself among the concerns - was only to see whether the service was profitable before fully committing.
Among those objecting to the application was Africa Star, an airline company set up as part of the country's black empowerment concept, which has been awarded rights to three weekly flights to the UK but has yet to begin operations. Bricknell dismisses as "ludicrous" the claim that his service would have robbed them of passengers. "They have had a licence for six months but still don't have an operating certificate," he says.
Besides the unused Africa Star rights, South African Airways has 19 weekly flights to the UK, while Virgin and British Airways together operate 27.
Source: Airline Business
