Hi,
Nationwide Press Release:
Domestic airline Nationwide will join the big league when it begins flights to London at the end of November.
The carrier says, however, it won’t be competing with business-focused South African Airways, British Airways and Virgin. Rather, it will target the leisure market of UK passengers on package tours to South Africa and ex-pat South Africans visiting friends and relatives.
The airline will use a leased widebody Boeing 767 and initially will fly the route three times a week. This is expected to grow to a daily service next year.
And it also won’t be landing at severely congested Heathrow Airport, but Gatwick, a 30-minute train ride from central London.
Chris Hoare, Nationwide’s commercial executive, said this week that the all- economy class service would not be a discount operation. “Although our fares will be competitive, we are not going to try to undercut the opposition. The margins are too thin for this.”
Refuting the idea that Gatwick was an unpopular arrival and departure point, Hoare said Nationwide’s target market passengers in the UK preferred Gatwick to Heathrow because of its easy access and lack of congestion in terminals.
“UK tour operators say that most of our passengers will be sourced from the southern parts of England who dislike travelling on the busy and often grid-locked highways to Heathrow.
“And, for South Africans, although Heathrow is closer to London, getting to the city from Gatwick is far easier, quicker and cheaper, depending on the means of transport.”
Besides the fact that Gatwick is a mere 30 minutes from Victoria Station- an express train leaves every 15 minutes – Nationwide passengers can connect with 14 flights a day to the US, the second most popular destination, after London, for South African passengers.
To cater for business travellers, the all-economy configuration of the B767 will include an “economy plus” section that will feature seats with an increased pitch and baggage allowance, although all meals will be the same.
Asked if the airline could make a profit on an initial three frequencies a week – it is licensed for four, with one departure from Cape Town – Hoare said there was such under-capacity on the route that he expected load factors to be in excess of 70%, above break-even. “Also our ground handling fees are about 26% less than at Heathrow.”
If Nationwide’s fares are cheaper then KLM’s I could be flying on them next year!
Nationwide Air 😀
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