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SEASONED travellers and businessmen are set to have their wings clipped during the 2010 Fifa World Cup, thanks to sky-high airfares and demand for flights outstripping supply.

Although the draw to decide which countries will face one another in next year’s soccer spectacle is still two weeks off, flights for the month- long tournament are almost sold out, say travel agents.

Meanwhile, any residents hoping to escape the hordes of supporters descending on South Africa are having to hold their breath as flights abroad are block-booked by airlines.

“A lot of the airlines are organising flights with big groups, so until January they have blocked-booked their flights – inbound and outbound,” said Nelson Mandela Bay Pentravel branch manager Kathy Telford.

Because of the demand for flights, Telford said airlines had drastically reduced the number of discounted seats they offered, meaning economy class seats for both local and international flights were much costlier.

“At the moment we are in limbo because when people hear (the high cost of airfares) they don’t want to book their holidays abroad. We’re telling our clients to wait until January to see what happens,” explained Telford, adding that finding available flights from the Bay to Johannesburg was a big problem. “Even low cost airlines aren’t low cost over that time.”

A snap survey of flights from the region to Johannesburg for the World Cup final match on July 11 next year showed a family of four – comprising two parents and two children under 12 – would have to fork out up to 160% more for flights.

A return flight on low-cost carrier 1Time from Port Elizabeth Airport to OR Tambo will cost a family R16792, whereas a similar return flight in early December will cost just R6508.

On SAA the same flight next year will cost R18074, whereas a December flight would cost R11600.

From East London Airport to OR Tambo a return flight on 1Time for the final will cost a family of four R11192, compared to a December price of R6400. Flights on SAA are already fully booked for the day before the final.

Businesses in the region are having to make contingency plans to halt all non-essential flights around the country during the tournament.

“Our company has brought forward its annual conference which normally happens in the weeks the World Cup will be played,” said Puma Eastern Cape agent Martin Nefdt. “I can already see myself driving to Cape Town and so-on because I don’t want to spend astronomical amounts of money for the airfare. Only in absolute emergencies will we resort to flying, because all businesses are trying to save money where they can.”

Nefdt said if he and his son, Donovan, wanted to travel to another host city to watch a match live, they would be driving. “On top of the visitors, it’s also going to be school holidays, so travelling will be chaos. I’ve been to other Soccer World Cups and there the host countries have had first- world rail networks to rely on, but we don’t have that luxury,” he said.

According to Brandhouse Eastern Cape manager Ray Hitzeroth, few businesses would be forking out sky- high airfares for executives. Instead, face-to-face meetings would be replaced by tele- and video-conferencing.

“Flying will be limited to absolute necessity,” he said. “We’re going to want to go to games with clients and we have the tickets, but we haven’t booked airfares yet, so I think that’s going to be a challenge. We’ll have to think about renting a mini-van, but then it’s a question of whether the car rental companies have enough stock left with all the World Cup visitors.”

Airlines say they have yet to decide if extra flights are needed.

“SAA has only opened a small percentage of its seat availability during the World Cup for domestic, regional and international travel,” said spokesman Vimla Maistry. “The remaining seats will be made available once the draw takes place.

“Once we have identified demand, we will be in a better position to determine what added capacity might be needed and whether it is necessary to increase the fleet size.

“At this stage, we are confident our current flight schedule is extensive enough to accommodate expected demand and we are also in discussion with our Star Alliance partners to assist with added capacity in international markets we do not serve and also those markets where we are present but will need increased capacity.”

Maistry said there had been steady demand on certain flight routes with some days during the tournament already sold out.

British Airways said it would be increasing flights into the country during the event. “We’ll be operating five additional Boeing 747-400 services into Johannesburg each week. This is in addition to the double daily service we’re currently operating.

“We’ll also operate our daily schedule into Cape Town,” said BA spokesman Stephen Forbes. “In terms of availability, our flights are already fairly full at the beginning and end of the World Cup, but not throughout the tournament. Some days are busy and on others there’s still plenty of availability. We expect that to change after the (December 4) draw, when we’ll get a clearer idea of what the demand is when. We’ll also then be in a better position to assess whether more capacity is required or not.”