Africa's remote destinations a 'lucrative' proposition

Don’t worry about privatisation of the national air carrier, SA Airways (SAA), depriving the airfreight sector of certain routes into the depths of southern Africa. The concern expressed to FTW by members of the airfreight sector – against a background of debate about the prudence of privatising SAA – was that privatisation would lead to the new private sector owners cutting the services on the nonprofitable, more remote routes, and depriving them of air cargo options to these destinations. But it is a mistaken fear, according to Alwyn Rautenbach, MD of Airlink Cargo and chairman of the Air Cargo Operators’ Committee (Acoc). SAA, he told FTW, tends to concentrate on what is termed the Golden Triangle of air routes linking Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town, and the regional carriers Airlink and SA Express cover the less-patronised domestic and regional routes. “And you can bet that what you term the ‘more remote’ routes are anything but non-profitable for us, otherwise we wouldn’t fly them,” Rautenbach said. Using smaller aircraft and less costly infrastructures, these less-patronised routes still provide a good return for the two regional carriers, he added. Also, if you are concerned that these two airlines – mistakenly assumed by many to be SAA subsidiaries – would also be gobbled up in an SAA privatisation deal, forget it. Airlink is a privately owned company working on a franchise basis with SAA while SA Express is a subsidiary of the department of public works. Its only association with SAA is the mutual route network share agreement, Rautenbach explained. The embattled national carrier has now handed its turnaround strategy to the Minister of Public Enterprises, Malusi Gigaba.