INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES withdrawing their services to South Africa

With some international airlines having withdrawn from the South African route, general sales agents are finding their workload changing as alternative methods are being employed to meetcargo demands. Leonard Neill looks at the current situation. Withdrawing airlines throw charters a lifeline INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES withdrawing their services to South Africa have given a lifeline to the charter business. "It's an area where we have enjoyed tremendous growth, especially into African nations," says Fast International's Gary Murphy. "Matters were pretty quiet until the recent departure of several airlines. Suddenly we have found that we are being called on to provide for much of the overflow of cargo business they have left behind. With others either talking of pulling out or reducing their services, we are ready for something of a boom period ahead." Murphy is also full of praise for the improvement in relations which general sales agents are enjoying with customs authorities and the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA). "We experienced problems with customs in the past but things have certainly improved recently, which is good for us all. At the same time ACSA has really gone about taking care of matters at ground level, like keeping delivery areas clean and allowing a far easier flow of operations. We've complained about both sectors in the past. Now is the time to say something good about them."