FlySafair opens Johannesburg to Lusaka route with five weekly flights

FlySafair has opened a direct route between Johannesburg and Lusaka, flying five days a week between OR Tambo International Airport and Kenneth Kaunda International Airport.

Departures run on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. The outbound service leaves OR Tambo at 07:50 and lands in Lusaka at 09:50. The return leaves Lusaka at 10:50 and arrives back in Johannesburg at 12:50, which puts a traveller on the ground in Gauteng before lunch.

Fares from Johannesburg to Lusaka start at R2,800, and flights in the other direction start at R3,000. Fuel surcharges are excluded and the fares are subject to availability. Tickets are on sale now through the airline.

As CapeTown ETC reported on 17 September, the route was introduced after sustained demand between the two cities. FlySafair’s chief marketing officer, Kirby Gordon, said Zambia had long been on the airline’s radar and that Lusaka was a route customers had been asking about.

What the route changes for travellers

For a South African flying to Zambia, the practical difference is a direct departure instead of a connection through another hub, and five weekly slots instead of one or two. That matters most for the short trip, the two or three day business visit, and the traveller building an onward itinerary.

Lusaka is also the entry point for the rest of the country. Livingstone and Victoria Falls sit within reach of the capital, as do the Lower Zambezi and South Luangwa national parks, so the route gives leisure travellers a starting point that does not require a second flight to reach.

Zambia is one of South Africa’s larger trading partners on the continent, and the corridor between Johannesburg and Lusaka carries a steady flow of business travel in both directions. A morning departure and a late morning return suit that traffic, because it allows a full working day on either end of the trip.

The airline’s regional build-out

The route is the latest addition to a regional network that FlySafair has been widening beyond its domestic base. The airline flies a single fleet type, which keeps crew training, maintenance and scheduling on one line, and it is that structure that makes a five times weekly regional service viable where a thinner schedule would not be.

The fares sit at the lower end of what the corridor has carried. That is the competitive position the airline has taken on every route it has opened, and it is the reason the launch is worth watching for anyone who books this trip regularly.

What to watch

The route is live and bookable. The question that follows is whether five weekly frequencies hold once the launch period ends, and whether the schedule is adjusted for the December peak, when demand on the corridor runs at its highest.

Source: CapeTown ETC, FlySafair adds new direct route from Johannesburg to Zambia