Nationwide launches Jo'burg - East London service

Leonard Neill
EAST LONDON will get an additional air service from Johannesburg when Nationwide Airlines launches a
5-days-a-week service between the two centres on March 21.
"It's a great big breath of fresh air for the city," says Les Holbrook, executive director of the Border-Kei Chamber of Business, who has been negotiating with the airline for the past year to bolster the service provided by SAA between East London and Johannesburg.
"It's simply fantastic. We had envisaged that if Nationwide did agree they would give us something like three flights a week. Now we have seven, with two flights on Wednesdays and Thursdays."
Although the business and tourist passenger trade is the prime target of the service, Nationwide uses Boeing 737 aircraft which provide freight capacity.
"This will help them with the second flight on Wednesday and Thursday, as well as the Friday flight which has been scheduled for late afternoon," says Nationwide's commercial executive Chris Hoare. "It means we will be able to load freight in the late afternoon on those days."
Smaller aircraft used by SAA and its subsidiary
SA Express have limited cargo space, says Holbrook. As a result the bulk of cargo sent through SAA has been absorbed into its overnight trucking service between the two cities.