CAA acts against flying ‘rustbuckets’

Kevin Mayhew ONE OF the healthier developments for the charter industry recently has been the tougher stand by the civil aviation authorities to remove sub-standard aircraft from South African skies. This is according to Colin Bowring, the chief executive officer of Kodiak Shipping based at Johannesburg International Airport. Kodiak specialises in military charters on the African continent and those for high end passengers such as executive corporate personnel and guests at exclusive game farms. “The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has really begun to take action against badly maintained aircraft or those with inadequate flying equipment for South Africa’s skies. We welcome this from a safety perspective and of course it will have an impact on price. Competitors who have sub-standard maintenance and aircraft can unfairly compete on price with those who are incurring high maintenance costs,” he said. Generally, the market has been flat with a shortage of the right aircraft – particularly as Kodiak requires specific types of air freighters for its specialist military niche. This has been aggravated by the draw of the recent Asian tsunami and other disaster relief efforts which diverted many aircraft towards humanitarian United Nations and other aid organisations’ work. However, at present there is a call for passenger charters for moving key personnel for major corporations and for ferrying guests to and from major tourist attractions such as up-market game reserves, he said.