Township folks can inject new life into domestic flying

Now is the time to tackle boldly a more dynamic phase of pandemic recovery in which we think about the future beyond imagining a return to “normal” or counting out how many months we think it could be until we return to the same levels of business that existed in December 2019.

For most businesses and organisations, the reality is increasingly accepted that we will never again be “normal” in the sense in which we understood the term 18 months ago.

As organisations and individuals, we will do best if we come to terms with where we are right now as being normal. Acceptance of that can only improve the way we work our way into recovery.

For those of us involved in the aviation and related sectors, we know and accept that to a large degree our future and our recovery over the next three to five years is less in our own hands and more dependent on a fully global vaccination programme and achievement of a high degree of herd immunity.

Aviation and tourism have been deeply and fundamentally damaged more than just about any other area of economic endeavour. Financial relief in most markets is limited and we essentially have to find our own ways to survive and start recovering.

There are many measures being explored and some, such as vaccination passports, may still help even though the idea is not yet universally accepted.

However, among airlines, airports, travel operators and tourism businesses within SA there is room to think imaginatively about how we develop and grow the market for travel and tourism.

There is, in fact, a sizable latent market for flying which we are yet to fully engage.

The next mass market for domestic flying can be found in urban townships, many of which are in close proximity to airports.

Those who are perhaps not frequent visitors to townships may still be stuck with a one-dimensional grasp of what the township of today actually is. The reality is many townships have seen extraordinary development and growth over the past two decades.

Facility and service upgrades in older township areas along with new housing has facilitated the growth of an emerging middle class in which so much hope for the future is invested.

Obvious indicators of the development of this middle class can be seen in patterns of consumption, growing preference for mall shopping, clothing purchases, leisure activities and, critically, from a transport perspective, choices about modes of transport, a growing preference for domestic travel.

We recently learnt from the latest FNB House Price Index that demand for homes in the R500,000 to R1m category is outstripping supply. While the influencing factors are several and varied, what we should be acknowledging is that this emerging middle market is not only going to grow in numbers of people but so will their average levels of income and wealth.

A central characteristic of growing incomes and wealth is that demand does not simply grow, but also shifts to entirely new categories that reflect perceived changes in needs, wealth, and status.

The growth of low-cost airlines coupled with aggressive price and other promotions is contributing towards recovery in domestic flying.

For Airports Company South Africa (Acsa), we see a need and a critical opportunity to launch and maintain a consistent effort to promote flying in middle-class township areas through a programme of education and marketing.

However, the question is how realistic is this and what are we selling to this middle-class township market?

Certainly, there is the passenger experience which is considerably different from long-distance road travel. This is important because convenience and status also become increasingly relevant to growing middle-class markets.

Emerging markets should, we believe, be open to information that compares different modes of transport not only based on price but also on factors of comfort, passenger experience, convenience, and service.

Acsa, with like-minded partners, is preparing to change the face of air travel by making it more accessible and inclusive to the majority of South African travellers.