SAA asks top 60 agents FIVE QUESTIONS posed to the leading freight agents in the country will guide the future path of South African Airways Cargo division. "The market has the answers to the questions we have been asking ourselves, so we have thrown the matter open to them to tell us how to improve our business operations," says domestic business development manager Neil Harris. "We are busy collating the results. The top 60 agents responded, which is indicative of the fact that we are not autocratically dictating to the market what has to be done. Instead it has to be a partnership with them and once the results are known to us, an action plan will follow." SAA asked whether the domestic rate on offer was still compatible with that offered by the opposition; what faults were found with service at SAA counters; what problems were encountered with the cut-off period for lodging of cargo; whether sales quality was acceptable and what other problems agents wished to address. "We want to grow sectors like our same day express service, and we are asking the customers to tell us what has been amiss with what we have been doing," said Harris. "We have already reduced our retrieval period of goods from aircraft to 45 minutes as against 90 minutes in the past, and taken away the R50 same day express airway bill to make this more competitive." Previous complaints that the two SAA freighters stand idly in Johannesburg and Cape Town - one at each airport - through the day Ôdoing nothing but chew grassÕ are being addressed with new plans for their additional use. A Friday charter to Lusaka has received overwhelming support, says Harris. It departs Johannesburg at 08:00 and is back here by 15:00 the same day in order to take up its regular Cape Town night flight service. "These two 737 freighters, with 14 ton capacity, have traditionally flown only at night. We are now looking at utilising their standing time in a cost-recovery operation."
