Comair Delays Lanseria Launch

South African carrier Comair is to defer the launch of its new international flights from Lanseria International Airport to Gaborone and Maputo until September, six months later than originally planned. The carrier, planned to inaugurate an eight-times weekly link to Maputo, Mozambique and a five-times weekly service to Gaborone, Botswana from May, but is awaiting assurances from the airport authority over potential capacity constraints at the airport.

The airline currently has a monopoly from the airport, however in June its low-cost rival Mango will add a three times daily connection to Cape Town. Comair’s new flights will be the only international routes from the facility located to the north west of the South African city, with its low-cost division Kulula offering the only other flights – up to seven times a day to Cape Town and Durban.

Comair will use a single 66-seat ATR 72 leased from Solenta Aviation on the new services. Although these routes are new for Lanseria the Mozambican and Botswana cities are already served from OR Tambo International, Johannesburg’s main international gateway.