Business people decry high air fares
Businesses have bemoaned the exorbitant air fares that South African Airways (SAA) as the sole player plying on the Malawi-Johannesburg route is charging.
Economic Empowerment Action Group (EEAG) president Lewis Chiwalo described this as a rip off on the travellers, most of whom are businesspeople, arguing that with such high fares things on the local market could only get more expensive as businesses transfer such costs to consumers.
“SAA is ripping us off; they have taken advantage of the market because they are now a single player plying into Malawi as an airline and they are charging exorbitant fares that we can’t afford. The problem is that with business people, these costs will be transferred to either the products they manufacture or whatever it is they do. They will build that cost into their pricing structure and adjust their prices. At the end of the day, it will be the consumers of the products that will suffer,” said Chiwalo.
Noting that it is mostly businesspersons that travel on the Malawi-Johannesburg route and not individuals, he further noted that the high fares are adding to the cost of doing business in Malawi which will impact greatly to the economic growth.
“It looks like a simple issue but it is not. It will be detrimental for the growth of the economy,” he said.
When called on Monday to find out their justification in the exorbitant air fares, SAA country manager James Chikaonda said he was on holiday until Monday and could only comment when he is back to work.
In an earlier interview, Minister of Transport and Public Infrastructure, Mohammed Sidik Mia indicated that Malawi Airlines Limited would resume flights in July.
He said then, that the coming of the airline onto the scene would create competition in the aviation industry, which could result in the exorbitant fares going down.
“South African Airways flies to Johannesburg with no competitor and have taken advantage of the situation,” said Mia.
