Mango Airlines – flymango.com
One of Mango's "mango colored" airplanes.
Mango Airlines is a subsidiary of South African Airways (SAA), and represents SAA’s entry into the low-cost domestic flight market. Mango entered the market in 2006. In line with its name the airline’s aircraft are a bright orange hue, with the unaligned logo scribbled on the side. This is in stark contrast to the more formal, dignified livery of SAA planes and is in keeping with the sometimes humorous, more laid-back atmosphere of the low-cost flight environment.
Mango has a fleet of five aircraft and operates at the following airports:
- OR Tambo International Airport (Johannesburg)
- Lanseria Airport (Johannesburg)
- Cape Town International Airport (Cape Town)
- King Shaka International Airport (Durban)
- Bloemfontein Airport (Bloemfontein)
Mango does not actually own the aircraft – they are on lease from SAA.
Mango offers buy-on-board in-flight food and drink, as well as a magazine (Mango Juice) and Mango TV. There may soon be wi-fi internet access on the planes too, but the bandwidth will have to be paid for by the passenger. The planes have a 6-across seating arrangement, with three seats on either side of a central aisle.
Domestic flights: Mango
Although SAA has an enormous share of the total flight market in South Africa, Mango has the smallest stake in terms of passenger volumes in the low-cost sector. SAA’s dominance is based on its traditional monopoly, which was entrenched in Apartheid, but the low-cost flight industry has only been established in the last ten years and SAA’s overall dominance therefore does not presuppose a monopoly in the cheaper flights. As to whether the parental affiliation of SAA assists Mango in providing lower prices than the other low-cost operators is controversial, but Mango’s prices do not seem to be substantially lower than the other airlines, and if SAA were to use their financial and industry muscle in an attempt to outgun Mango’s competitors in a price war British Airways may soon start to do the same thing through its subsidiary 1time, which services more airports than Mango and also has higher passenger volumes.
