Mango, South African Airways' new wholly owned budget carrier, aims to bring affordable flights to the country's largely untapped low-income population that, until now, has relied heavily on bus and rail travel.
Speaking at Mango's official launch last week, chief executive Nico Bezuidenhout said he expected the carrier to grow the domestic travel market by 10% to 15% a year, equating to 250,000 extra passengers up to and following the 2010 FIFA World Cup to be hosted by South Africa.
Less than 5% of South Africans and 15% of all urban adults currently travel by air.
The airline is launching with a fleet of four Boeing 737-800s leased from SAA, and plans to grow this to 10 aircraft over the next decade.
The aircraft will be configured with a high-density, 186-seat layout and will operate daily utilisation of 12h.
The first flights take off on 15 November, serving the country's "Golden Triangle" between Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, with Bloemfontein added on 1 December.
Mango will operate 28 flights a day, network-wide. Regional flights will follow according to how demand develops.
Mango is launching with a fleet of four Boeing 737-800s leased from SAA
Source: Flight International
