Following a tough couple of months in which the Covid-19 pandemic took many lives and livelihoods, flying domestically had become punitively expensive.
Successive lockdowns had left airports looking eerily empty as fewer daily flights travelled domestically – international travel was still banned – and some airlines ceased operating altogether.
When you consider how far some students travel across the SADC regions to attain higher learning degrees and diplomas in institutions based in Cape Town, Joburg or the Eastern Cape, flying is often the most feasible mode of travel. There was a time when a flight from Durban to Gqeberha cost almost as much as bus ticket.
