The Competition Commission yesterday said it is expediting its investigations into ‘excessive’ pricing by airlines after receiving formal complaints from consumers as ticket prices continue to soar. 

BusinessLIVE reports that airline ticket prices have skyrocketed in recent weeks in the wake of the collapse of Comair, which accounted for as much as 40% of Southern Africa’s airline capacity.

In recent days, a one-way flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town has cost on average between R3 000 and R7 000, up from about R800 a year ago.

Commission spokesperson Siyabulela Makunga confirmed that it had received three complaints against airline companies for excessive pricing during the course of June and July.

‘We are busy investigating these cases on an expedited basis.’

When Comair initially suspended operations at the end of May due to a lack of funding, the commission said it had met airlines Lift, FlySafair, Airlink and SAA amid concerns that the decision by the Kulula and British Airways operator to halt operations could lead to a spike in airline ticket prices.

The commission said at the time it wanted to prevent any possible price gouging, unfair, unreasonable or unjust pricing emanating from the supply shock.

Comair subsequently tumbled into provisional liquidation last month after failing to raise R500m in cash to keep its operations going, leading to a huge supply gap.

Add the bruising fuel hikes, and airline ticket prices are likely to remain elevated for the foreseeable future.

Full BusinessLIVE report