Too soon for FlySafair to ‘make the call’ on ticket surcharge

Low-cost airline FlySafair has committed to removing the surcharge it added to its ticket prices in March because of the increased cost of jet fuel the moment the market lets it, but warns that there will be a “new normal”. Jet fuel prices increased significantly because of the US conflict with Iran and disruption to oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. FlySafair chief marketing officer Kirby Gordon said on Wednesday that the airline itemises the surcharge on every ticket as a line item and reviews it weekly, adding that longer routes burn more fuel and therefore carry a higher surcharge.

He said the surcharge reached its peak on 14 April and was adjusted downwards on 21 July. Typical FlySafair fuel surchargeAt peakAdjusted 14 April 21 JulyChangeCape Town to DurbanR830R378Down R452Cape Town to JohannesburgR822R375Down R447Johannesburg to MauritiusR1 429R652Down R777 Gordon said the airline wants to try and remove it as soon as conditions allow and that FlySafair hoped it would have gone by now. “We want to try and get it down to a reasonable base.

There will be a new normal,” he said, adding that it is unrealistic to expect that jet fuel prices will get back to pre-conflict levels soon. He said the airline needs a stable environment where the geopolitical scenario stablises “wherever it’s going to stabilise” before it can make the call to remove it. Gordon said it is tough to know right now what will happen to jet fuel prices in the short term.

“We’re thinking one minute everything is cool and then Donnie [US President Donald Trump] freaks and drops another bomb and then things change.” He said FlySafair is seeing the constriction in the Strait of Hormuz and its other concern is what happens to the rand against the US dollar over the next couple of weeks because the rand has weakened and is the airline’s other exposure. Impact on bookings He said the introduction of the surcharge had resulted in a 14% drop in demand for FlySafair tickets. Without line of sight of what its competitors’ numbers look like he therefore has to “talk from my reality”.

Gordon said there is obviously an improvement in demand when the surcharge is reduced, while stressing that demand is seasonal. The problem FlySafair has is that because it serves such a broad spectrum of the market, if inflation spikes, the inflation on airline tickets does too.