Star Air finds growing demand into Africa

Leonard Neill THE GROWTH of imports and exports into Africa presents bright opportunities for the independent airfreight operator, says Star Air Cargo director Peter Annear, “This is the way we have been heading ever since Star Air commenced operations 18 months ago, and business is increasing all the time,” he says. Annear, a registered commercial pilot who ‘takes on only the occasional flight these days’, moved into the airfreight field seven years ago when he started VSA Freight which is still operating as a subsidiary of the present company. He had previously run a flying school out of Lanseria, and was involved at one stage in flying relief cargo to Mozambique. “Our first aircraft under the VSA banner back in 1996 was a Cessna 402, which I used to fly between Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg with freight. Later we had two Cessna aircraft based in Zimbabwe serving Malawi and Zambia.” The next step saw VSA flying its own aircraft on charter to DHL for the Johannesburg-Maputo service. This was followed by the introduction of the Dornier service operating to Bloemfontein and George, primarily serving postal requirements. This was relinquished to another company shortly before the tragedy in which former cricket captain Hansie Cronje was killed. Star Air now has three Dornier aircraft in its fleet in addition to its first Boeing 737. The latter is currently chartered for passenger services, but is equipped to handle freight. Annear is satisfied that with the regional market growing, the aircraft will eventually be switched to an all-cargo carrier. The Dornier trio switch between passenger and freight requirements. Increasing demand for heavy loads into central African regions, in particular mining equipment destined for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has encouraged the company to consider switching these aircraft to a dedicated freight operation in the near future.