Port Elizabeth – Since its first daily frequency between Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth and Cape Town and Port Elizabeth in 2012, Mango has seen significant growth and interest in the Garden Route and Eastern Cape, with four weekly flights added in late 2013 and up to 200% growth in capacity.
To date the airline has carried in excess of 460 000 flyers to and from the Garden Route.
“Load factors are encouraging,” says spokesperson Hein Kaiser.
During the first calendar quarter this year Mango enjoyed a load factor in the upper 80% range between Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth while the very seasonal Johannesburg – George route also registered an average of above 80% for the period.
“Our Cape Town-Port Elizabeth route is also performing strongly with a load factor average of 86%.”
Kaiser says that while competition on the Cape Town-Port Elizabeth route saw a slight drop in numbers for a short while due to a startup competitor’s launch fares late last year, volumes have returned.
“Mango remains the most consistently affordable airline to the Garden Route.”
Mango market share between Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth has grown from just over 6% to 19.5% over the last 12 months and between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth the airline’s market share grew by more than 20% from 2% to 22.8%. Johannesburg-George saw growth of just more than 3% from 6.4% to 9.5%.
Kaiser says that the airline’s appreciation of support remains a cornerstone of its inspiration.
“There are no words that could adequately describe our appreciation of the support that South Africans have afforded Mango over the past 9 years. No business amounts to much without its customers and, Mango’s success is directly related to the support of our guests.”
He says that this underpins the airline’s every effort. “Innovation across the airline has always been driven by our desire to remain customer focused. Guest service is a primary focus for us this year and, while we do not always get it right, we endeavour to deliver our very best to Mango travellers.”
Mango presently operates in excess of 1 500 flights every month, across its network.
The airline’s average load factor between January and April this year averaged 86%.
“While forecasts have indicated that overall domestic traveler numbers are set to continue declining steadily, Mango has bucked the trend in a shrinking market, this despite the skies being flooded with additional capacity through new startups.”
Unsustainable launch fares, consumer confidence and Mango’s consistently affordable fares, product and on-time performance are cited. “Our philosophy of constant and never ending improvement and affordability has stood Mango in good stead as competition remains tight in an economically challenged market.”
Traveller24
