V-Flyer

So I read SAA are dropping Cape Town, one of the reasons being the cost of parking a plane at LHR for 15 hours each day!

Often wondered the economies of this, I think Qantas now leave 2 x 380's at LHR for a similar time, isn't there something cheaper to do with them?

Could we see VS making Cape Town an all seasons service? What happens in the summer to the LHR slot VS use for its winter Cape Town service.

Finally, I guess its MUCH cheaper to park a plane in South Africa for the day, than overseas airlines pay to park for the day at LHR.

Presumably the flip side of the coin is that if you sweat your assets too much, then you have no slack in the system to cope with the unexpected.

The Cape Town service for me is very useful as I have family living in the suburbs.

An interesting quote from the SAA General Manager, Theunis Potgieter,- "South Africa is among the top five fastest declining visitor markets to the UK, statistics made available by VisitBritain indicate. With declining numbers of passengers using the Cape Town-London flight for onward connections in Europe or North America, the route does not serve any of SAA's network objectives"

I wonder if VS is noticing the same decline? Will they consolidate the route via Jo'Burg too!!!