Safari specialists have warned that a general reduction in flights between Johannesburg and Victoria Falls this year has resulted in less choice and fewer sightseeing opportunities for visitors, especially those planning a short stay.

But the situation isn’t likely to improve until the end of the month at least, or when South Africa’s International Air Services Council is properly up and running.

Offering some relief, fastjet will increase its schedule between JNB and VFA to daily from the end of the month. The airline has implemented a reduced, low-season schedule for January, February and March, with three flights a week, on Mondays, Fridays and Sundays.

A spokesperson said a reduced schedule was not unusual for this time of year, lined up with the end of the European winter season, and provided time for planned maintenance.

Bookings for travel to Vic Falls over Easter were “very encouraging” said the spokesperson, who added: “There was a reduction in frequencies over the Christmas period, which was a direct response to a big and short-notice dip in demand – due to the discovery of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 and the subsequent travel bans. Also, one important point is that, when we have had to make schedule changes, all affected customers have been supported with rebooking.”

June-July is historically another good period for business from South Africa to Vic Falls, and fastjet will add direct flights between VFA and Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (KMIA) this week with flights between VFA and Maun to follow at the end of June.

The spokesperson said: “By July, we will be serving Vic Falls from four destinations – Harare, Johannesburg, Kruger National Park and Maun. This further commits to fastjet’s tourism mandate, and to the fact that we are banking on and supporting tourism to Vic Falls.”

Demand recovers quicker than capacity

Angela Matthews, owner and Director of Alpha Destinations, said demand had recovered faster than airline capacity on key routes from South Africa this year, specifically JNB-VFA.

Last week, Matthews could find almost no alternative solution to assist customers who were due to travel to Vic Falls with British Airways operated by Comair. The flights had originally been delayed by three hours before the weekend, which Matthews said would have left them with no time for sightseeing or activities on Saturday afternoon.

However, the situation became dire when the South African Civil Aviation Authority, without warning, grounded all Comair-operated flights indefinitely. (See the latest update by Tourism Update here.)

Matthews said she had managed to rebook her customers on to a flight arriving in Livingstone on Sunday, and on Monday, needed to contact BA/Comair directly for a refund. “By the time we knew what the problem was (with BA/Comair), it was too late to make a plan for the day. Communication is a problem! We have got very, very unhappy clients. They lost one day of a two-day trip to Vic Falls.”

Andre Van Kets, co-founder and Director of the Discover Africa Group, which owns Drive South Africa, said operators in the region were dealing with supply issues in most booking categories, except hotel beds, due to COVID-19. A study by the company published in December 2021warned about a major shortage in the availability of rental vehicles in various categories (4x4, camper-van, etc) over peak dates in 2021/22.

“In general, if you are looking for a quote, demand is far higher than supply for almost everything. We can still get bed nights for most places, but they – suppliers such as airlines and car-rental companies – are doing things as fast as they can.”

Meanwhile, Airlink’s regional network includes a daily service between Cape Town and Harare, five flights between CPT and VFA each week, six weekly flights from Nelspruit to Livingstone, and three weekly flights from JNB-LVI. There are also flights to Kasane ex-JNB and Maun from both JNB and CPT, which provides more packaging opportunities.

Highlighting the need for more flights, Matthews said: “The destination is so important, and people want to combine it with Botswana or other safari destinations.”

Alpha Destinations said there had been “an unbelievable number of enquiries” at short-notice. “We have just arranged a honeymoon of three weeks. The couple will be married on March 26 and want to touch down on March 30.”

There’s also growing demand from the Mexican (inbound) market, according to Matthews, who visited SA via hubs in Paris, Doha and/or Atlanta. “There is demand. Flights are full from the end of March to the beginning of April. Trust me, people want to come here,” she said.

Route development and the role of the International Air Services Council

Aside from fastjet’s new VFA routes, the reinstatement of South Africa’s domestic and international air services licensing councils could mean some future relief.

The councils, which are responsible for the allocation of airline route rights, have finally been reconstituted after almost a year.

This means that airlines domiciled in South Africa can finally make applications to launch new regional and domestic routes. Already, FlySafair has said it has made applications to add flights to both HRE and VFA, which is still subject to approval by the IASC.

As to whether other operators, such as Airlink or even South African Airways 2.0, have any plans to add a direct JNB-VFA service, only time, and demand, will tell.

CEO of Africa Albida Tourism, Ross Kennedy, a staunch supporter of Vic Falls’ tourism industry, commented: “As with any long-haul destination, we are reliant on flights to bring the tourists through. The impact of COVID has influenced how airlines manage their inventory and the frequency of flights will be demand driven as market forces prevail.

“Considering that we currently have significant strides to make to get us back to pre-COVID conditions, it is difficult to make any comment on the impact of the cancellation of flights as nobody is running at capacity.”

Still, Kennedy maintained: “We are encouraged by and thank the airlines [that] have confidence in investing in the Vic Falls route, and as the impact of COVID declines, we hope to see things getting back to some sense of normality. An example of this is fastjet, which, on March 16, launches its new VFA-KMIA route, another great connection!”