Durban bails out Proflight

By SHAMAOMA MUSONDA –
SOUTH Africa’s Durban city authorities have engaged Proflight Zambia to help the airline increase its flight frequency between Lusaka and the South Africa coastal city of Durban.
Proflight currently operates a three-times-a-week route between Lusaka and Durban.
Regional marketing manager at Durban Tourism Melusi Khumalo said that Proflight was an important partner for the City of Durban and that it would be even more important that the airline was helped to boost its operations.
“Proflight came onto the Durban direct route and has done well so far, we have been observing it and we are extremely impressed with the business model. Passenger numbers increased last year by up to 12 per cent.
“But we want it to do more because we have noticed there are areas that can still be worked on and we are committed to seeing it optimize on this route,” Mr Khumalo said.
Mr Khumalo, who was in the country with his marketing officer Miseni Duma for the Spotlight on Lusaka Expo, said he held meetings with Proflight and would hold more later.
He said Durban Tourism had noticed that Proflight carries more people going to Durban than it does when coming back to Lusaka because of staggered days it flies between the two towns.
Since Proflight does not operate daily flights, most passengers opt to fly back via Johannesburg using South Africa Airways (SAA).
“In as much as we at Durban Tourism are happy that our arrivals have increased, thanks to Proflight, we want to see that they succeed and run a sustainable route,” Mr Khumalo said.
And the Durban Tourism marketing officer Miseni  Duma,  said  one of the interventions his organisation was planning for Proflight was to bring officials into contact with tour operators in South Africa so that the  airline could be added to their packages.
“We (Durban) will be hosting the World Tourism Conference this May and we will be receiving up to 5, 000 tour operators from across the world, we are going to give Proflight some slots to speak at the conference and also a table so they interact with the operators.
“They will present their business model but I am sure they will cut deals and increase their flight numbers. We would want to see them fly between Lusaka and Zambia daily,” Mr Duma said.