Local airline FlySafair has revealed its refreshed branding on the twenty-fifth aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 New Generation, that it has welcomed into its fleet. The branding maintains the pink and light blue, with the addition of a navy-blue stripe in honour of its heritage of air cargo company Safair.

The company has added a pink heart to the logo, which is evocative of two digital location pins placed close together, signifying the company's aim to move people to who and what they love, as well as the passion of FlySafair's people who love aviation, FlySafair chief marketing officer Kirby Gordon says.

“Our aim has always been to connect people with who and what they love through our love of flying and when we saw this concept about bringing two places together and forming a heart, it seemed like an obvious symbol for what we aim to do every day.”

The airline has also installed artworks by local artists as part of the new interiors on two aircraft, including the latest addition, and will install the artwork on a further three aircraft.

The aim of the company's collaboration with local artists Ndumiso Nyoni, Michael Chandler, Zinhle Zulu, Joh Del and Yiull Damaso is to celebrate South Africa's heritage - its people, fauna and flora - especially as the airline currently exclusively serves the local market and has reached a new stage of its journey, explains Gordon.

"The artists helped us to decorate the interiors and was an opportunity to spread joy to our customers," Gordon says.

Passengers can already spot Chandler's and Nyoni’s artwork in the airline’s aircraft, while Zulu's, Del's and Damaso’s pieces are gradually being installed as the maintenance schedules allow.

“The artists were given the same brief, which is to get people excited about exploring their own backyard again. We are delighted to say that each artist exceeded our expectations in their own way,” Gordon adds.

In October, the airline will operate upwards of 122 flights a day, which is a 36% increase on October 2021 and 67% more than what the airline operated in October 2019, prior to Covid-19.

In South Africa, traditional demand was about 1.6-million seats a month, but this has dropped to about 1.2-million seats a month following the impact of Covid-19. The loss of local carriers reduced this to 900 000 seats a month, but the industry has managed to plug the gap and recover to providing 1.2-million seats a month.

Supply is expected to increase even further as the summer holiday season approaches.

“Demand for flights between Cape Town and Johannesburg exceeded capacity during a few weeks in September, and this indicates that there is scope for growth for the industry. There is scope to grow aviation in South Africa, employ more people, grow the industry and potentially grow tourism,” he notes.

Part of the reason for the refresh is because FlySafair has reached an interesting place in its development, not least because it has become the largest carrier in the country.

“However, key for us is to maintain our internal culture, stay true to what got us here and to meet our goal of providing a low-cost and on-time service to our customers,” Gordon says.