Africa-Press – South-Africa. Prices of flights between South Africa’s major cities have risen between 4% and 13% over the past year due to increased demand, limited airline capacity, and post-pandemic travel trends.
Prices for flights between Cape Town and Durban rose by 4%, while those between Cape Town and Johannesburg rose by 10% year-on-year. Flights between Durban and Johannesburg rose by 12% year-on-year.
This was revealed in Discovery Bank and Visa’s latest SpendTrend 25 report, which outlined how South Africans spend their month.
The report relied on data from over one million South Africans and 2.6 billion transactions to compare spending habits across income segments and between different cities.
For the first time, the report also used data from a survey of 1,000 South Africans who use various banks. Discovery Bank collected from its banking clients, Vitality, and Discovery Insure.
This enables it to more accurately determine the various trends impacting South African consumers, particularly how they spend their money.
Data from its bank clients and Vitality Travel revealed that travel spend has increased back to pre-pandemic levels in South Africa.
In 2024, the ‘Golden Triangle’ of Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban remained the most popular destinations for South Africans.
Around 34% of all flights were to Cape Town, a slight increase from the previous year, and 31% of flights were to Johannesburg.
Discovery Bank CEO Hylton Kallner explained that the bank had seen strong growth in demand for flights to secondary cities such as East London and Gqeberha.
However, the rising hotspot appears to be George, which now accounts for 6% of all flights in South Africa as individuals and families increasingly semigrate to the coast.
The Garden Route, where George is the main airport, has grown in popularity in recent years as South Africans from Gauteng search for a better quality of life on the coast.
Some of the demand has also been driven by retirees moving to the Garden Route to see out their golden years.
The major destinations of South African travellers can be seen in the infographic below.
Flight prices reach new highs
Discovery Bank warned that increased travel demand and the loss of capacity on major routes have increased flight prices in recent years.
There is also no indication that this trend will end, as airlines remain cash-strapped and unwilling to invest heavily in a major expansion.
In particular, regulatory uncertainty regarding FlySafair’s shareholding is inhibiting the country’s largest domestic carrier from investing in expanding its capacity.
Price increases have also been driven by a surge in ‘revenge travel’ in the aftermath of the pandemic-era lockdowns.
Average flight prices on popular routes rose by 4% to 13%, except for Cape Town to George, which saw a 13% drop. The price hikes are mainly driven by demand growing faster than supply.
According to Visa’s data, high net worth individuals were the only South Africans to spend more on travel since Covid than before.
Discovery Bank took a deep dive into data from their clients who use Vitality Travel to find out which South Africans travel the most and how much these flights cost.
Their analysis found that South Africans prioritise the cost of travel above all other factors when deciding whether to travel locally or internationally.
When are the cheapest flights
Discovery Bank’s analysis of local flights revealed the cheapest and most expensive times to fly between the country’s major cities – Joburg, Cape Town, and Durban.
The varying cost of flights at different times during the weeks is shown in the graphics below, with the cheapest flight time between the cities marked with a star.
Green blocks indicate the cheapest flights, while red blocks show the most expensive.
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