30 new flights a week from Mango
The airline's new schedule was unveiled on Tuesday (9 July) when the first of two new aircraft come into service on 5 August. The fleet additions will sport the first set of new-look‚ environmentally friendlier seats on board.
"Frequency increases stretch across all our major routes‚" says chief executive Nico Bezuidenhout who says additional flights are scheduled between Johannesburg and Durban‚ Durban and Cape Town and Cape Town and Johannesburg.
"Growth on existing routes delivers greater scale for the business with new routes presently in planning phase," he said.
Bezuidenhout said Mango had applied for a scheduled operation to two east African destinations and is in the final planning stages to use a seventh domestic airport."
Mango currently operates charter flights to Zanzibar on behalf of tour operator AfricaStay.
The second new generation Boeing 737-800 will join the airline's fleet later in the year. Both new aircraft will be rolled out with new-look seats after which existing fleet will be added to the seat replacement programme.
"The new seats will save approximately 820kg in aircraft weight resulting in overall emission reductions of up to 1.7m tons of CO2 annually upon completion of the programme‚" says Bezuidenhout.
Mango has already reduced fleet weight by 270kg per aircraft with overall weight savings of the new fleet additions amounting to 1090kg each.
Mango will also launch a Durban base later this year with permanently stationed aircraft enabling the airline to provide an improved schedule to and from the city.