SA Express turns in tidy profit

While it has been a tough time for airlines during the global recession, SA Express – a little sister airline of SA Airways (SAA) – has reported a tidy profit for the 2009/10 financial year of R250-million, 10% up on the previous financial year Its 2% decline in domestic passenger numbers was compensated for by the 3% increase in regional traffic, according to CEO, Inati Ntshanga. “This further entrenched our strategy of expanding in the region,” he said. It was also a strategy that was confirmed by the success of the Johannesburg-Lubumbashi route – which the airline described as “lucrative”. Added to that money-making route, SA Express also launched Congo Express in February this year. It owns 49% of Congo Express, with its first phase being the route between Lubumbashi and Kinshasa.