South African Express (EXY, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) has reopened its base at Cape Town International as of January 13 with at least one CRJ200 based at the airfield. The resurgent carrier said in a statement that to mark the event, it had resumed daily flights from Cape Town to each of Bloemfontein and Walvis Bay in Namibia.
The carrier was forced to close bases in Cape Town, Durban King Shaka, and George on its grounding by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) in May last year. Since its resumption of flights in August 2018, it has relied exclusively on its Johannesburg O.R. Tambo hub.
“The intention of that Cape Town base is to do what we have done with the Johannesburg base, which is to operate domestic flights and to expand the regional space out of Cape Town,” Siza Mzimela, interim airline CEO, said in a statement. “The fact that we can offer slightly lower fares can only be an advantage. Also, this route also feeds into our mandate of connecting secondary markets."
SA Express has thus far managed to reactivate eight of out of the 22 aircraft in its fleet; two out of ten CRJ200s, both CRJ700s, and four out of ten Dash 8-400s. In terms of network coverage, it runs 10 domestic and regional routes including Gaborone (Botswana), Walvis Bay (Namibia), Lubumbashi (Democratic Republic of Congo), Bloemfontein, Hoedspruit, Kimberley, Mthatha, Richards Bay, and Port Elizabeth.
