At 12pm on Friday Santaco Airlines took to the skies in its inaugural flight.
The airline was unveiled at Lanseria Airport by President Jacob Zuma and Minister of Transport Sbu Ndebele.
Before the plane took off many people joked about the hand signals that the pilot will have to make and asked if the plane would go back if he saw a passenger left behind.
President Zuma applauded Santaco president Jabulani Mthembu for doing what many thought would never be done.
"While you faced a lot of criticism for even thinking you could do such a thing, you did. You have shown that in the business world you have to have a lot of courage if you want your business to survive," said Zuma.
The president said it was about time that those who could never have access to fly will now do so.
"This is a great concept. This plane will reach those people even to my home town of Nkandla", President Zuma joked.
Santaco president Jabulani Mthembu said he was grateful to be part of history.
"We are here for our people. We want them to reduce the time that they spend on the road while they could be with their families," said Mthembu.
The Boeing 737 flight is headed to Bisho and is expected to return later in the day.
The price for the tickets ranges from R400 to R600 and the first commercial flight is expected to take off in November.
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