Travelling around South Africa in 2022 has been expensive and frustrating.
That’s thanks to a shortage of domestic airline seats, record-high petrol prices, and scarce rental cars.
But 2023 should be better, according to one of the world’s leading travel retailers, as the country’s remaining airlines and rental car companies recover.
Record-high petrol prices, a shortage of airline seats, and scarce car rentals have made it challenging to travel around South Africa this year. But getting around in 2023 should be a bit easier, according to one of the world’s leading travel retailers.
Travel, both locally and internationally, has been strained for almost three years.
The Covid-19 pandemic began closing borders and grounding flights in early 2020, with consecutive waves of infections over the course of two years suppressing travel plans. When the worst of the pandemic had passed, and the skies reopened, short-staffed airports, particularly those in Europe, were plunged into chaos amid the summer surge.
Travellers in South Africa have needed to contend with an additional challenge after lockdown. Just two months after the country officially exited lockdown, Comair – the operator of Kulula.com and domestic British Airways flights – entered provisional liquidation. This grounding sapped around 40% of South Africa’s domestic seat capacity.
The capacity issue was further worsened by the demise of Mango, SA Express, and a severely downsized South African Airways (SAA).
With demand outstripping supply, domestic seats have been selling out quicker, raising airfares and making it more expensive to fly around South Africa, especially at short notice. The rising price of jet fuel has only added to the strain felt by fliers and airlines.
But airfares and lead times should begin stabilising in the first few months of 2023, according to Euan McNeil, MD of Flight Centre Travel Group South Africa, as domestic carriers rush to plug the gap. One of these airlines, FlySafair, has predicted that 1.6 million domestic seats per month – the country’s pre-pandemic capacity, which satisfied demand, should be reached around April 2023.
Driving around South Africa has also gotten a lot more costly in 2022, with inland petrol prices peaking at R26.74 a litre in July, increasing by more than 50% in a year. Much of this volatility was driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and although that conflict persists, the oil price has cooled dramatically in recent months, with South African pumps around 12% cheaper than July highs heading into the festive season.
For travellers moving around South Africa – especially those doing so for business purposes – the shortage of rental cars has also been challenging.
Car rental companies drastically reduced their fleet sizes during the height of the pandemic and have been cautious about bringing more vehicles back. This is now changing, according to McNeil. New car sales attributed to the car rental industry increased from 15.3% in January 2022 to 17.4% in October 2022. The local car rental market is “on the verge of full recovery”, said McNeil, although “true normalcy, based on the delivery of required vehicles, is not expected to be reached until the third or fourth quarter of 2023.”
Source: https://www.businessinsider.co.za/cheaper-and-easy-south-african-travel-in-2023-2022-12
