Cape Town – Skywise Co-Chair, J Malik says government has a responsibility to the consumer to consider all avenues in order to make across South Africa.
The low-cost airline is calling for a roundtable discussion between the airline industry and top level government departments, including the Minister of Tourism Derek Hanekom, to improve South Africa’s economic influence and open up the domestic airline sector.
Malik says aviation is integral to growing the domestic tourism market and believes the gathering will bring solutions for key issues such as “the current distortion of air ticket prices by the national carrier”.
“If government can give SAA breathing space, why can they not give us breathing space in this manner, which can then translate into real economic value for the consumer?”
This comes as low-cost competitor Comair is in a high court challenge with SAA and government over the state funding of the embattled national carrier. According to Comair, the state has failed to provide a level playing field in the domestic airline market, adding to the distortion of the market as referred to by Skywise.
Malik believes these discussions can help formulate policy that would enable the reduction in taxes and levies for example.
“It’s time for the blank cheques to stop and for government to start treating all players within the industry fairly. Government is currently treating us like orphans, giving pocket money to only one child.”
Malik told Traveller24 that while government has put together various portfolio committees to look at the issues of the aviation industry, it has never involved the low-cost airlines servicing South Africa’s domestic market.
“In South Africa, we have what is known as the Big Five in business and the aviation sector is key to growing the tourism Industry – this is why we want to engage government so we can work on solutions together and grow the industry.”
“Regular interface with the various top level government departments will ensure effective growth for the entire industry as this guarantees idea sharing and instant feedback,” said Malik.
“Growth can only happen if there is competition. It’s time for government to start treating everybody the same and to give everybody a fair chance to play.”
South Africa’s domestic aviation sector is in a much healthier state compared to 2012, which saw the domino closure of Velvet Sky and 1time in 2012 – but the entry if new domestic players such as Skywise and FlySafair have certainly clipped the dominance enjoyed by the likes SAA’s Mango and Comair’s kulula.
Malik said additional advantages from having regular discussions would be “the creation of employment, growth of the economy, increased government revenue, value addition to the sector and the overall expansion of the airline and travel industry”.
Traveller24
