Mango Airlines (MNO, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) will target international growth given saturation in the domestic South African market, newly appointed acting chief executive Marelize Labuschagne has said.

"Due to current market density in the domestic market, there are no further opportunities for Mango at this stage, but we are looking at various possibilities on a regional level," she said.

According to the executive, competition in the LCC segment of South Africa's highly competitive domestic market has increased given the country's economic downturn has forced passengers to be more cost-conscious. In addition, as with other airlines, Mango has also had to cope with fuel costs as well as a sliding South African rand.

"Mango has always been financially strong with a positive cash flow, and in the 2017/2018 financial year delivered record profits. This year we will again be profitable, though the margins are under pressure, especially at the backdrop of the increased Brent Crude as well as the decline in the value of our currency," she added.

A unit of South African Airways (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo), Mango plies key trunk South African routes between Johannesburg (Johannesburg Lanseria and Johannesburg O.R. Tambo), Cape Town International, and Durban King Shaka as well as to Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth and George. Internationally, its only foreign route is to Zanzibar which it serves from both Johannesburg airfields. It also has applied for rights to a 2x weekly Johannesburg O.R. Tambo-Mauritius service.

Mango currently operates an in-house fleet of fourteen B737-800s alongside three A320-200s that are wet-leased from Global Aviation Operations (GE, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo).

According to the ch-aviation capacity module, Mango is South Africa's largest domestic carrier by weekly seating volume controlling 88,728 of the 412,676 seats/week (21.5%) available on the market via 478 departures.

By contrast, inclusive of Airlink (South Africa) and South African Express (EXY, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo), SAA offers 85,325 seats/week (20.68%) via 1,255 weekly departures, FlySafair offers 80,400 seats/week (19.48%) via 456 weekly departures, Kulula Air offers 77,868 seats/week (18.87%) via 456 weekly departures, and sister carrier Comair (South Africa) (operating as British Airways) offers 62,394 seats/week via 396 weekly departures (15.12%).