Mango airline will launch new route

MANGO airline has announced that it will launch a new route between Lanseria and Durban in October with two initial daily return flights.

In addition, the airline will be adding an additional early morning flight from Cape Town to Lanseria. The new route and schedule is effective from Thursday, 15 October with flights on sale from across all distribution channels.

A launch fare of R379 between Lanseria and Durban is available (limited seats) until Monday, 14 September for travel between Thursday, 15 October and Monday, 30 November.

Mango spokesman, Hein Kaiser, said Mango remains the most punctual airline operating at Lanseria.

“Mango is geared for further growth despite tougher competition and a challenging domestic market.

“While trading conditions remain tough and some competitors have had to adopt a flexible schedule as a consequence, our average load factors have shown that there remains opportunity for business development, in particular our expansion out of Lanseria,” he said.

Over the past six months, the airline has maintained an average 82 per cent load factor across its network with an average of 1 500 flights and more than 220 000 guests carried every month.

Kaiser said that the addition of the Lanseria-Durban route and the additional Cape Town-Lanseria frequency will see the airline up its asset utilisation further.

Mango has ranked among the world’s top five airlines for asset efficiency and utilisation several times. The carrier plans to add additional aircraft to its schedule later this year with more growth and fleet additions expected during the next two years. The new Lanseria-Durban route will see Mango operate an initial twice-daily service in the mornings and late afternoons, while a fourth early morning frequency between Cape Town and Lanseria has been added.

“Demand at Lanseria has shown welcome growth over the past 24 months with well-performing load factors across the schedule, and we expect the additional Cape Town flight as well as the new Durban route to mirror performance at Lanseria and further stimulate growth,” added Kaiser.

This year, Mango celebrates its fifth year of operations in Lanseria and continues to achieve the most favourable on-time performance record at the airport.

The new Lanseria Durban schedule is as follows: Lanseria to Durban, departing 8.55am and 6.20pm. Durban to Lanseria, departing 7.50am and 4.30pm.

The new Cape Town to Lanseria schedule sees the additional flight depart from Cape Town at 6.10am.