PORT ELIZABETH’S motor industry export boom is paying dividends for South African Airways. Some 70% of exports from Port Elizabeth are motor industry related, according to the airline’s PE district sales manager, Sheldon Matthews. Volumes rose from 5,3m kilograms in 2002 to 6,24m kilograms in 2003. “This 15% increase in volume maintained high revenues which balance the strength of the rand,” Matthews told FTW. One of the main export lines is leather seat covers, locally manufactured by Johnson Controls Automotive, and flown to the UK, Canada and Germany.
