Heartening outlook from aviation expert

It is a time of some hope for the aviation industry, according to Chris Zweigenthal, CEO of the Airlines Association of Southern Africa (AASA) “Let me be so bold as to say that the next good-news story is the imminent end of the economic downturn,” he told FTW. “The statistics presented by the International Air Transport Association (Iata) indicate a turnaround at least insofar as the declines are diminishing.” But it’s not necessarily the same good-news time in SA. Within SA, according to Zweigenthal, and notwithstanding some improved financial results from airlines on the previous year’s performance, the airline profitability margins are still extremely low – and in many cases below the cost of capital. “One thing that is definitely clear is that the margins are definitely still below those of the monopoly infrastructure service providers,” he added.