Date: 17 September 2011

South Africa's first fully black-owned airline, Santaco Express Airline, successfully made its maiden flight from Lanseria Airport in Johannesburg to Bisho Airport in the Eastern Cape on Friday, 16 September 2011.

The flight left Johannesburg at midday, and landed in Bisho one hour and twenty minutes later, with passengers singing Shosholoza during landing. The flight was hailed as a milestone in South African aviation history.

The airline is set to launch its commercial operations in November 2011, and will fly between Lanseria, Bisho and Cape Town, with a route to Durban planned at a later stage.  Ticket prices for prices for trips between Cape Town and Johannesburg are set to cost between R500 and R600, and between Durban and Johannesburg around R300.

A major innovation planned by the airline is to ferry passengers to and from the airport by taxi, using Santaco's extensive road transport infrastructure.