LONDON – Following on from FIFA’s recent announcement that fewer foreign fans than expected will be going to the World Cup, due in part to a lack of flights, it has been revealed by the BBC on 29th January that six South African airlines are to be investigated for allegedly colluding to hike the price of fares for internal flights during the World Cup.

After the final ticket allocation took place on December 5th last year, the widely anticipated scrabble for flights and accommodation failed to materialise in the numbers that were expected.

In response to the news of price-fixing, DialAFlight managing director Peter Stephens today commented “No wonder so many fans have been put off heading to South Africa. The hoteliers and local airlines in the areas where the games are being played have inflated their rates by between 50% and 100% over the same period as last year.”

“With matches set to take place across the country, fans already shelling out hundreds of pounds to get to South Africa now face the grim prospect of paying massively inflated prices for internal flights to travel between the games to follow their team’s progress. It seems that hoteliers and flight operators seem oblivious to the fact we are still in a worldwide recession.”

It is also understood by DialAFlight that FIFA are still sitting on huge allocations of beds that they were hoping to sell at top prices but have been unable to do so. These unsold beds may be handed back to hoteliers in the near future and prices reduced, but there is not expected to be any heavy discounting for several weeks.