During much of last year the
much-desired “light at the end
of the tunnel” was, according
to Gerd von Mansberg, MD
of The Cargo Connection,
“reduced to a mere glimmer”.
“But,” he told FTW, “since
November it has lit up and
now seems like a 60-w globe.”
An example of this, he
pointed out, was air exports
increasing – as the consignee
countries’ economies again
begin to show growth.
But many members of
the aviation industry have
been trying to find ways of
overcoming the detrimental
situation during the recent
economic crisis – exercises for
which they may suffer later.
“Most airlines have played
the discount and ‘special
market rates’ game,” said Von
Mansberg. “They are the ones
who will find it tough to get
the rates back up.
“Others have just sat it out
at lower volumes but have
protected their yields. The
sensible ones? I think so!”
Amongst those who have
used the recent recession in a
more productive manner, Von
Mansberg cited Egyptair as
an example.
“That airline used the
opportunity to revise its
commercial strategy – having
its first-ever Worldwide Cargo
Conference in October 2009.
“One outcome of this was
that Egyptair Cargo has stated
that it is an African carrier
and not Middle Eastern.”
Von Mansberg saw that as
a shift in the airline’s thinking
– with the likely result that
more focus will go to African
development.
“It was triggered by
new fresh thinking and
participation from the airline’s
51 country offices – and the
beneficial consequence was
that a new way forward has
been plotted.
“I attended this conference,
and came away very enthused
and knowing that we are now
really attending to the needs
of our clients – the forwarders.
Another happy thought in
Von Mansberg’s mind is that
the Cargo Connection started
selling Air Namibia from
November.
“Their special pro-rate
agreements with other airlines
had begun to lapse,” he told
FTW, “so a first step has been
for us to enter into an SPA
with Airlink Cargo, and also
get busy renewing two others
with international carriers.
“This has resulted in
a new route to Lusaka,
Zambia, another route to
Accra in Ghana, and a widebody
connection between
Windhoek and Luanda
in Angola.”
The temporary grounding
of the 14 Jetstream 41 aircraft
in Airlink’s fleet has also had
no real effect on the cargo
relationship with The Cargo
Connection, according to
Von Mansberg.
“Airlink Cargo is working
on their development, even
within the restraints due to
this temporary grounding,”
he said. “Aircraft have been
hired in, and there have
been schedule and frequency
changes.
“But, generally, we are still
servicing the African regional
clients as well as ever. All this
has meant in many cases is
one bigger plane versus two
smaller ones.”
And, despite a host of
rumours last year about an
imminent shut-down of the
cash-strapped carrier, Air
Zimbabwe, it is doing business
as usual, according to Von
Mansberg.
“Indeed,” he said, “due to
some wide-body operations
in December the tonnages are
up. And an amazing fact is
that their on-time-departure
statistics put many African
carriers to shame.
‘Airlines who played the discount game face difficult year’
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