What it costs to fly from Joburg to Cape Town right now
South Africans can expect to pay a minimum of R1,540 to fly from Johannesburg to Cape Town and back this February, provided you are willing to fly on weekdays.
However, the cost of flights is considerably higher if you plan to travel over the weekend, and your choice of airline will also greatly impact your final bill.
Cheapest flights
We used Google Flights data to compare the best flight rates for every major airline in South Africa this November.
At the time of writing on Monday, 16 February, the cheapest available flights were for one day later on Tuesday the 17th, though prices were generally lower across all weekdays compared to the weekend.
This is understandable, of course, as demand for flights peaks over the weekend as it is a more convenient time to travel.
This is particularly relevant with the Cape Town-Joburg route, as it is common practice for working professionals who live in the Mother City to travel to Gauteng for work during the week, only to return home for the weekends.
In our search, we filtered the results for a single adult travelling one-way in economy class from Johannesburg to Cape Town on Tuesday, 17 February.
These were the best results for FlySafair, Lift, South African Airways (SAA), CemAir, and Airlink.
Note that these figures are accurate at the time of writing and are subject to change based on the time and day you book:
| Airline | Departing Flight time (17 February) | Price |
|---|---|---|
| FlySafair | 19h35 – 21h50 | R670 |
| Lift | 19h00 – 21h10 | R750 |
| Airlink | 20h35 – 22h50 | R1,128 |
| CemAir | 16h30 – 18h45 | R1,460 |
| South African Airways | 21h20 – 23h35 | R1,464 |
As we’ve found in our previous flight price analyses, FlySafair had by far the lowest rates at R670, less than half the fares charged by the most expensive option, SAA.
One detail that stood out is that the cheapest flights are all late in the evening, which is another indication of which times see the lowest demand.
As a point of reference, a FlySafair flight booked for an 8am slot cost R970, so consumers will need to decide whether the added cost is worth is for a more convenient time, or if its better to get the best possible rate.
As for the return flight, the cheapest rates we found are leaving on Wednesday, 18 February.=
These were the cheapest results for each airline:
| Airline | Departing Flight time (18 February) | Price |
|---|---|---|
| FlySafair | 11h45 – 13h50 | R870 |
| Lift | 09h30 – 11h30 | R980 |
| CemAir | 08h00 – 10h00 | R1,149 |
| South African Airways | 08h30 – 10h30 | R1,280 |
| Airlink | 18h25 – 20h30 | R1,829 |
Flights were more expensive across the board, though FlySafair still emerged as the winner at R870.
Assuming you booked both flights with FlySafair, the cheapest price you can expect to pay to fly from Joburg to Cape Town and back right now is R1,540.
In both cases, Lift had the second-best fares, though CemAir, SAA, and Airlink ranked differently the second time around.
Airlink may have been the third-best for the departing flight, but it offered the most expensive return flight and was the second most expensive overall.
CemAir ended third, and SAA was the most costly of the group with prices that were 78.18% higher than FlySafair’s.
These were the combined results:
- FlySafair – R1,540
- Link – R1,730
- CemAir – R2,609
- Airlink – R2,957
- SAA – R2,744
These were weekday prices, mind you, as the cheapest FlySafair rates for a Friday flight clocked in at R1,280 – almost double what it was on a Tuesday.
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