“I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not, and could not, give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death,” said the late icon Nelson Mandela.
In the wake of the darkest three days in South African aviation that occurred from October 11 to 13, the above quote can only inspire the common man who shares the passion of the domestic aviation industry.
The media failed to articulate the story as it was, that only a few flights were affected. Instead, the reports suggested that we were not flying at all.
Lack of unity and support
When the media talk about the South African aviation industry, they must be aware of their responsibility to report factually.
In general, Skywise’s recent experiences expose the lack of unity and support among aviation industry players – the government, airlines and the media. No one wants to assist one another for the good of the industry.
Competitors are also very jealous of one another and seek to drive others out of business. Some airlines have changed the way they deal with others in the wake of the cancellation of our flights. They now want payment up front, which makes business difficult for operators.
But recently, when a certain competitor’s flights were cancelled in Cape Town, we immediately asked to have their passengers booked on our flights. It is in Skywise’s DNA to create an environment conducive to move the industry forward.
The aviation industry is a very challenging space to operate in, and only those people who trust your product will support you in hard times.
People showed their love and appreciation of our brand during the week of our “grounding”, something that really touched our hearts. While others were equally angered by the unintended inconvenience caused, others were equally sympathetic to our situation. We salute you all!
When we started in the airline business, we thought that it would be business as usual. Instead, it has proved to be exactly the opposite, as the airline space is all politics, being played at various decision-making levels.
We have been involved in a lot of businesses and have, therefore, learnt that every business has its own challenges. Yet none of these prepared us one bit for the dark days we went through recently.
Business people compete to grow their businesses, but in South African aviation they compete to drive each other out of business. But at whose cost is this? Still, ordinary people want to be able to make a choice of who to travel with. So when an airline stops operating, it is the common man that is deprived of choices to travel.
When South Africa experienced its darkest days in aviation, it was challenging for many travellers that had to worry about their next options.
But in reality, during that time, we had no choice except to learn a lot, very fast and in a complex way.
We discovered that most of the departments working for the development of the aviation industry in South Africa don’t believe in “transformation”. These departments lack the willpower to work with and to improve conditions for new or private airlines. We learnt that where institutional support is easily accessible, it sometimes disadvantages private airlines.
Most private airlines do not have the luxury of government funding or raising finances as listed companies. They rely on own financial resources, survive on innovation and have very small profit margins.
Unity, an important development factor of the domestic aviation industry, is a rare commodity among airlines. This was evident during the three darkest days in South African aviation as no one wanted to work with us. Not government or any of our competitors. Interestingly, it was the common South African who approached us with moral support that we will cherish forever.
We had an incident where a competitor hiked their fare that was advertised on their website, only because we had wanted to transfer our passengers to their flights. This was very strange and an act of insensibility.
However, we continue to provide similar assistance at face value. We understand very well that this is a brutal industry. It’s hard to comprehend whether these are the unprescribed rules of the airline industry. An industry where people work behind closed curtains, against other industry players.
This also explains why some airlines get the best routes and space at airports while others get a raw deal. Some people in higher places are putting us against the wall, but the ordinary man is giving us support.
One of the factors contributing to the lack of growth in the domestic aviation sector is that black people do not have adequate opportunities to establish their own airlines. Support for black people in aviation is almost no-existent, with those in operation having to do all on their own.
If more black people do not get into the domestic aviation industry, there won’t be real growth for the industry. At the moment the industry is only for a few people.
Discouraged
There is interest to get into the aviation industry by the black community, but the support from the government and banks is unfavourable sometimes. Also, black people are discouraged by the harsh history of aviation in South Africa.
Our story was very big by domestic airline standards, but some journalists chose to ignore it. However, we appeal to the media to continue to call us, support us and appreciate their support so far. It is their duty to extend support to all airlines, whether national or private airlines, for the domestic aviation industry to realise genuine and future growth.
To the media, let us work together, unite and let’s accept that new entrants can be successful too. Consumers love new entrants to the domestic airline sector and they have supported us very well. We need their continued support.
Skywise management are fundamentally optimists. The Unlimited Flying campaign currently trending across the aviation world testifies to that, especially with other airlines expressing interest to partner on the package.
We do not know whether our optimism comes from either nature or nurture. What we know is that we have been optimistic enough to keep our head pointed towards the sun, and our feet moving forward.
There were many dark moments during the week of our “grounding” when our faith in our business was sorely tested, but we would not, and could not, give ourselves up to despair. That way lays defeat and death of our brand that had been suggested by pessimists.
* Javed Malik is Skywise Airlines co-chairman.
** The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of Independent Media.
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