The slow recovery, from recession in South Africa has been compounded, by a weak economy and concern over stability, during the transition period and the first 12 months of multi-racial government. While corporate flying in this part of the continent has always been a necessary business tool, FBOs have been hit as badly as has Europe.
"It has been exactly the same. Our last boom here was 1981 and, since then, business has been very much quieter. The industry has kept ticking over, however. There has been corporate flying and probably on a more active basis than in, for instance, the UK," says Graham Conlyn, managing director of National Airways.
"I do, however, see trade picking up now. A lot of South African companies are expanding their operations further afield within Africa and, to do that successfully, the only way it can be achieved is with corporate aviation. Most of our companies are committed to it. I believe they will continue to increase the size of their fleets and will continue to use more and more of what corporate aviation offers them," he adds.
Conlyn believes that overseas companies moving into the country following lifting of sanctions have been slow to see the benefits afforded by corporate flying, not only in South Africa, but further afield in such countries as Zimbabwe, Zaire, Mozambique and Namibia.
"We have always had a very active industry here in South Africa, but I don't see that, in the years to come, it will grow at anywhere near the same rate it grew in the 1980s. My mission now is to take this company Africa-wide. I believe that this continent has a lot of potential and South Africa certainly has opened up to the rest of Africa like never before. I'm very excited about that," he concludes.
Source: Flight International