SAA would this year rev up its African expansion plans, not only focusing on organic growth but also helping with the improvement of aviation infrastructure, Siza Mzimela, the chief executive of the national carrier, said yesterday.
Hosting the annual breakfast at the 32nd Tourism Indaba, Mzimela said SAA would introduce flights to Abuja in Nigeria, Madagascar, the Republic of Congo and Burundi while growing in South America, Asia and India.
“We are beginning to see open skies and we want to understand how this will impact on us and also the opportunities it will bring. But also important is opening up Africa for Africa, that has been lacking.
“The focus on the continent is important,” said Mzimela.
Mzimela said east to west traffic flow would require SAA to form partnerships in Africa.
“We have also looked at how we can add frequency to Entebbe (Uganda), Harare and sometimes operating wider (200 to 250 seats) aircraft to Nairobi,” Mzimela said.
She stressed that SAA would not introduce all the new routes at the same time and the airline would be guided by bilateral agreements between South Africa and the various destination countries.
Nigeria was one of the key markets that SAA had identified and it had recently opened a lounge there. There were other plans to improve the product offering to the west African country.
Theunis Potgieter, the general manager for commercial at SAA, said the carrier would offer two to three flights a week to Abuja on a smaller aircraft.
The airline would look for agreements with other airlines through the Star Alliance network.
SAA will use its low-cost airline, Mango as part of its growth strategy.
Mzimela said South Africa still lagged behind in budget airlines, compared with other countries, as it only had a 0.2 percent penetration rate. SAA was looking at how to play a role in capitalising and growing the low-cost segment.
“Mango will begin operations from Lanseria from July. We are also looking to see if there is a role that Mango can play to open up tourist destinations like Mombasa (Kenya) and Zanzibar,” she said.
Despite all the opportunities in Africa, Mzimela also decried the obstacles on the continent and said there was a lot that needed to be done to make it competitive.
“We are trying to do the best we can, but bilateral (agreements) are not controlled by airlines but by countries.
“Respective governments talk to each other and there is still a lot of work to be done,” Mzimela said.
Cheryl Carolus, the chairwoman of the SAA board, also urged governments to support the aviation industry. She said while Africa offered the greatest growth potential, it was not growing and there was a need to improve its infrastructure.
“Bilateral (agreements) is one of the tools of the trade and far too much red tape is still out there and it makes Africa uncompetitive. No airline can do it on its own and no country can do it on its own.”
Meanwhile, responding to an announcement that Comair would introduce direct international flights from King Shaka International Airport to London, Mzimela and Carolus said they welcomed competition as it was good for the industry and the customers. - Business Report