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Thread: LHR/CPT flights so expensive
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Old Jul 8, 2009 | 4:09 am
  #9  
Sunbeater
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Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Rainbow Nation
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Originally Posted by Cheetah_SA
That ruling dates back to 1999! An awful lot has changed since then. In the (southern hemisphere) summer BA alone has 35 flights to SA each week. VS has also upped its frequencies to 14.

The received wisdom has always been the reason lies in the lack of slots at LHR. The SA government doesn't want to give more frequencies to UK airlines unless SA airlines get slots at LHR. But BA has a monopoly on those and so stalemate. Of course it helps to sustain our own financial basket case airline by keeping fares high but I'm sure that hasn't ever entered thoughts of the negotiators.
All the flights I have flown (direct) to South Africa have been full to capacity - both SAA and BA. So if BA were to increase the number of flights to SA, I don't see why SAA would need to lose out if they gave SAA the same number of slots at LHR. Perhaps I'm just being thick!
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