Things seem to be moving with this airline and appear in the current (16/07/2010) National Gazzette.

E) Category A3 and A4. (A) Fly Go-Air (Pty) Ltd Fly Go-Air. (B) 3 Funnel Place, Chase Valley, Pietermaritzburg. (C) Class I and II. http://www.greengazette.co.za/pages/2010/07/Gazettes/National/20100716_-_National_Gazette_No_33369_of_16-Jul-2010,_Volume_541,_066/

All i can access as it is a pay to view document. But promising that things are moving forward.

Lets hope this takes off.

As dicussed previously it will offer:

PMB to Lanseria flights and possibly to Cape Town on Embraer 135 planes.

Background info

Transport developments

09 Jun 2010

A SECOND airline to operate from Oribi Airport and a business express train to Durban are important developments towards opening up Pietermaritzburg’s transportation links.

KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Finance Ina Cronjé has lamented the fact that Pietermaritzburg is not sufficiently integrated into the national transport network. She has noted that transport and infrastructure development are catalysts that can unlock the local economy. Opening up transport networks facilitates the wider movement of goods and people — spurs to growing an economy.

Oribi may not be the most ideal of airports and a train that takes 90 minutes to get to Durban may not be the fastest express on the line, but these are certainly steps in the right direction.

Go Air, which is offering three daily return flights between the city and Gauteng, as well as a flight to Cape Town under consideration, is certainly opening up the skyways over Pietermaritzburg. Hopefully, residents will benefit from more affordable ticket prices. Added revenue will mean more money for ongoing upgrading of facilities and electronic systems at the airport. It is also expected that flights not landing because of poor weather conditions will become a thing of the past. We have provincial government, local business and Msunduzi to thank, in Cronjé’s words, for blowing new life into Oribi Airport.

The business express sounds like a slow train to Durban. There are also concerns about how commuters who travel by train will get to their places of work from the station. There must be a plan in the offing. One of the positive legacies of this World Cup is that transport planning seems to be coming into its own. Cronjé has mentioned plans for a rapid rail transit system linking Pietermaritzburg, Durban, Richards Bay and Port Shepstone. All we need in the mix now is a plan to get freight transport off the highways. This will save the province millions on road maintenance.

It is often asked what the benefits of this World Cup are. A legacy may well turn out to be heightened awareness of the need for long- term transport planning. For Pietermaritzburg Go Air and a business express train to Durban, herald a start.

http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&global%5B_id%5D=41960

seems the website will be www.Flygo-air.co.za or something along those lines

so awesome...will definitely be on my to-do list

Very promising. FAPM needs a second carrier to a) provide competition to Airlink and b) through the increased competition, give them an decent alternative to a rather lengthy drive to FALE.

about time some competition for Airlink, Im sure lots of my PMB friends in Jhb will be happy to hear about this. Wonder how long a flight from Durban would be? 20min? :D

If Kwazulu Natal is thinking of a intercity link with Pietermaritzburg - Durban - Port Shepstone and branching to Richards bay.. They should coordinate with the national government to plan it so The pietemaritzburg line can extend all the way to Johannesburg in the future :)

If you goodle "go-air" the following comes up now...but the website www.theranks.co.za does not run yet...progress...?

Fly Go-Air: flightsFly Go-Air. spacious seats. quality meals. VIP service. modern aircraft ... Pietermaritzburg to Lanseria, Lanseria to Pietermaritzburg. return: departing ...
www.theranks.co.za/ - Cached

Good to see there is some movement (albeit small) on this one.

whats maritzbara airport like? any pics?

Runway and shacks is my guess :p...

OK I was joking of course, but street view will show you what it looks like, and its jst a bit better than a few shacks...

well they did just spend in the region of R20m upgraqding it and proving more parking

Yeah it's really not bad for a small airport and there's currently a lot of enthusiasm in boosting its profile and facilities.

In all honesty I like the look of the airport... its small and personal and you aren't actually kept away from the planes visually which I think is nice.

Some news from Avcom, not good I am afraid:

Their application was heard yes..

- Their financial situation is technical insolvency in terms of the books they presented

- They did not present their consumer protection arrangement

- The situation in terms of the contract, back-up aircraft etc was extremely vague

No license issued to date... so yet another delay?

http://www.avcom.co.za/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=67265

^^ Those are pretty much the 3 determining factors in getting an AOC (basically an airline's license). Take with a pinch of salt and all that.

The airlines website is now up and running www.flygoair.co.za

very amateur at best, but you can book online...supposedly. I tried a number of different dates and all i got was error messages

you cant even call that website amateurish. It shows seats that cant fir into an ERJ-145, shows Asian FA's and an Airbus as one of its "modern aircraft" it looks like one of those websites that your internet diverts you to when you have misspelt a web address

Did this one die?

I was just thinking of this one after reading this mornings article with Alec Hogg and Novic regarding Velvet air, havent heard a thing. A shame though.

^^ which one?

Sorry I read on my friends iPad while waiting for a client, I would have posted it here if I know what site it was from. but I see you found it already.

ipad blah...i got me a Galaxy tab

Seems this one is still alive judging from posts on the Pmb Chamber of Commerce blog


Mr Bernard
2011/01/17 04:29:54 PM

FlyGoAir has been granted their AOl and currently busy with CAA approvals. Yes there has been delay but it is rumoured that things are going according to plan to launch sometimes in 2011


Mr Peters
2011/03/10 01:05:57 AM

According to inside information, FlyGoAir has been approved by the domestic Air licence Council, and have secured VIP business jets, the airline is however keeping low profile but should take the skies sometime this year.


http://www.pcb.org.za/jit_blog/2010/06/24/jit_default_37.Pietermaritzburg_Airport.html

Believe it when I see it! They started a website last year, canned it... Let's see what happens

was browsing around and found this thread, so i went to site, seems things are picking up, that site doesnt look amateurish to me

^^ Do these guys exist? According to their site, you can book flights from Pietermaritzburg to Lanseria already!

can only see a "coming soon" page, i suppose they are yet to launch

they claim the code GO for their flights...

Pietermaritzburg -> Joburg (Lanseria) Thu, 16 Aug 2012
Flight number Departure time Arrival time Fare p/p Travellers Total: airport tax inc.
GO053 06:30 07:45 R1275 1 R1275
GO055 09:30 10:45 R1275 1 R1275


Those are the two flights they claim to offer on that date

they claim the code GO for their flights...

Pietermaritzburg -> Joburg (Lanseria) Thu, 16 Aug 2012
Flight number Departure time Arrival time Fare p/p Travellers Total: airport tax inc.
GO053 06:30 07:45 R1275 1 R1275
GO055 09:30 10:45 R1275 1 R1275


Those are the two flights they claim to offer on that date

it seems the website is still in testing phase, emailed them to see

Maybe coincidence that they've been playing and testing with the website today...earlier today (after seeing this thread) I also got the site with booking options and got some days showing those flights and a while later nothing on the same dates again. Had a route map of current and future routes, showing Pietermaritzburg-Lanseria as current route and the following as future routes:
Pietermaritzburg-Cape Town
Lanseria-Cape Town
Lanseria-George
Lanseria-Port Elizabeth
Lanseria-Kruger (MQP)
Lanseria-Nelspruit (NLP)
Lanseria-Livingstone
Lanseria-Lusaka
Lanseria-Harare
Lanseria-Mauritius

The Kruger and Nelspruit seperation is dodgy, as the old Nelspruit airport (NLP) doesn't handle commercial flights anymore, it should only be Kruger.
The regional and Mauritius might be a bit far fetched for now as it depends on bilaterals and for Mauritius they'll need a totally different aircraft than what they can do all the other routes with.
From those timings of 1h15min on the HLA-PZB route suggests that it's got to be jet aircraft, just too quick a time for small prop plane, unless Q400 like SA Express. Being still PZB focused also suggests that aircraft type can't be too big, which would be good for a change for a start-up carrier on thinner routes. A lot of this depends on what aircraft is to be used, as Pietermaritzburg is operationally constraint.
Hopefully this is for real and gets off the ground soon (of course I'll say that now since seeing George as future destination).

with a website like they have i say more wishful than realistic

Well the website is under development so I don't see how that is any indication.

Some change on the website again today.
Now showing the future route map again with all previous mentioned "future routes" plus now also showing Cape Town-George.

And above that now saying:
Coming Soon:
Lanseria to Pietermaritzburg
Lanseria to Kruger National
Lanseria to Cape Town
Lanseria to George

...so that could be the initial routes, hopefully this means something is happening.

Further changes to the homepage have occurred, with on the top it gives a link to apply for free loyalty cards and the route map now without all the regional routes, plus also now showing Port Elizabeth-George.
When clicking on the loyalty card it gives you another page from where there's more info and other links again and eventually a booking engine.

Seems it's going to happen! Do you guys think this is going to be the one that's going to make it? It is a very different tactic, as no airline has started in this country yet, by completely ignoring the "golden triangle." Could this be its roaring success or its downfall?

http://waine.iblog.co.za/files/2011/05/161991_10227041841_6427908_n.jpg

New domestic airline set to launch
2012-10-18 08:28

Airlines have been reporting major losses and low cost airline 1time's application for business rescue is no secret yet a new domestic airline, FlyGoAir, is about to take to the skies.

According to Tourism Update, the airline is set to operate an “affordable premium service” on routes that are currently not served by any other airline.

Its first route will be between Lanseria and the Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (KMIA), due to start operating on November 26, with estimated airfares at R999pp one way, inclusive of all taxes. The airline plans to offer in-flight services such as meals, beverages and alcohol and has also designed a unique loyalty reward programme, in which passengers qualify for a free flight after every six flights flown.

With Lanseria as its major hub, FlyGoAir also plans to launch another two routes in January, to Polokwane and Pietermaritzburg respectively. Other Flight routes said to be in the pipeline for next year are flights from Lanseria to Bloemfontein and George as well as a service from KMIA to Cape Town.

According to CEO, Reg Sivsanker, “FlyGoAir is bold in wanting to take the skies in tough times", but he believes in its competitive advantage and in the future the airline hopes to expand its services by adding flights to the more popular destinations, which, he says, will further improve FlyGoAir’s competitive edge.

FlyGoAir will work with an online reservation system, which will take bookings from only two calendar months in advance. Sivsanker explains: “Passengers can be assured; they will not have to suffer the same fate as those passengers who lost money on advance bookings on airlines that folded.”

I'd love to see them succeed, and I wish them all the best. But they won't last. Not as long as SAA is alive and well (being fed tax-payer money).

Do SAA fly these routes?

FLYING TO BLOEM?! Mango just failed!

It's mostly routes that Airlink operates from OR Tambo, so technically not competing, but still same general catchment area. Thus mostly routes only served by Airlink or SAX. Won't be the same as Mango on JNB-BFN, as those were once again just too big an aircraft for the short route. FlyGoAir will most likely be operating smaller aircraft similar to Airlink, that's why it's not LowCost Airline, but be offering more services at somewhat higher prices, similar to Airlink and SAX.
Believe it should work on those routes, something the South African skies is looking for, not another low-cost airline, but service on thinner routes.

The booking engine on the site seems to be active now. Unfortunately the website still looks pretty much the same...

from theafricanaviationtribune.com
SOUTH AFRICA: Fly Go-Air to launch Lanseria - Mpumulanga on 25 November using CRJ-100s.
As the dust has yet to settle following the demise of South African LCC, 1Time (T6), so start-up Fly Go-Air (KEM) has announced that it will launch operations on Sunday 25 November with 6x weekly flights between Johannesburg's Lanseria airport and Kruger/Mpumulanga International Airport; its website is now "live".



Cemair's CRJ100ER 'ZS-CRJ' in Cape Town (Cemair)
According to Fly Go-Air's website, Johannesburg-based ACMI "Cemair" will partner Fly Go-Air with the (unconfirmed) use of its Bombardier CRJ-100ER (MSN 7338 | ZS-CRJ).

Routes available are:
Johannesburg (Lanseria) - Kruger Mpumalanga
Johannesburg (Lanseria) - Polokwane International (to launch in January)
Fly Go-Air (KEM): Johannesburg (Lanseria) - Kruger Mpumalanga
- Effective 25 November 2012
KEM112 HLA 1600 - 1700 MQP CRJ | 1
KEM212 HLA 1600 - 1700 MQP CRJ | 2
KEM312 HLA 1600 - 1700 MQP CRJ | 3
KEM412 HLA 1600 - 1700 MQP CRJ | 4
KEM512 HLA 1600 - 1700 MQP CRJ | 5
KEM711 HLA 1600 - 1700 MQP CRJ | 7
KEM111 MQP 0730 - 0830 HLA CRJ | 1
KEM211 MQP 0730 - 0830 HLA CRJ | 2
KEM311 MQP 0730 - 0830 HLA CRJ | 3
KEM411 MQP 0730 - 0830 HLA CRJ | 4
KEM511 MQP 0730 - 0830 HLA CRJ | 5
KEM611 MQP 0930 - 1030 HLA CRJ | 6
Source [Fly Go-Air]

From 14 January 2013, the airline will launch weekday only flights between Lanseria and Polokwane departing at 15h30 and returning the next day at 08h30. This route will mainly target business travellers.

^^ overnighting in Kruger and Polokwane?? Seems a weird flight timing plan

Maybe not. I was thinking, why do most people go to Johannesburg and why do most people go to other cities. Mostly going to JHB for business, wanting to arrive in the morning, attend some meetings, fly back in the afternoon... it may be able to work?

Mmm, flights have changed, now only available from 10 December, so 2 week postponement, and Polokwane option removed now...one of those see it to believe it...

I really don't see this airline becoming much of a player in the local industry if it does start. Probably be something similar to Federal Air operating a couple of niche routes. But best of luck to them.

No go for FlyGoAir
2013-02-07 08:52

FlyGoAir announced its intention to become a new domestic player in November 2012, admist an uncertain market. At the time, low cost airline 1time had applied for business rescue is no secret yet a new domestic airline.

The airline said it would begin operations in time for the festive season last year, but has yet to commence operations following its inaugural flight in December.

Toruism Update reports Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport’s (KMIA) management said in a statement it had “distanced” itself from any of FlyGoAir’s operations after the airline failed to communicate its reasons for not operating services as planned.

The airline was meant to operate its first route between Lanseria and the Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (KMIA) and planned to offer in-flight services such as meals, beverages and alcohol and it had plans for a unique loyalty reward programme, in which passengers would have qualified for a free flight after every six flights flown.

FlyGoAir could not be reached for comment.

Source: News24 (http://www.news24.com/Travel/Flights/No-go-for-FlyGoAir-20130207)

Can't say this surprises me...

Flying to Kruger airport can't exactly be a massively busy route.

doomed from day one. Seemed very amateurish