The South African National Taxi Council’s announcement that it is planning a new low cost airline has caused quite a stir, but indications are that the industry views the fresh blood as welcome competition.
Nico Bezuidenhout, Mango CEO : “Mango welcomes any initiative that could make air travel more affordable for South Africans, this has always been a primary objective for us. A large number of our Guests on board have been and are first time flyers, indicating that there is a significant market with growth potential for affordable air travel in South Africa.”
“Transportation lies at the heart of the South African economy – who’s to say that airlines won’t start up taxi operations at some point in the future?”
“I can see some of you rolling your eyes because of how our taxi drivers drive... I can assure you we won't allow our taxi drivers to drive the planes,” Santaco business development officer Nkululeko Buthelezi had earlier told potential investors and reporters in Johannesburg.
The Santaco Express would be officially launched on September 16 and would take to the skies by November, he said.
Buthelezi said Santaco was looking at routes such as Lanseria to Bhisho, which made sense for its customers who often made a 14-hour road trip for a funeral only to return five hours later.
Santaco Express would initially operate one or two flights a day between Lanseria in Gauteng to Bhisho in the Eastern Cape, and then on to the Cape Town International Airport.
It would be operated by Air Aquarius, which works with SA Express and SA Airlink. Air Aquarius would supply 100-seater aircraft, crew and the necessary aviation licences.
Santaco president AJ Mthembu said the aviation model would work as commuters would be taken from the taxi rank to the airport, then transported to a taxi rank at their destination.
“Our potential is to make a bush into a city,” he said, explaining that the airline would focus on regional airports.
“We specialise in awkward areas because that's where our business is.”
Mthembu said the cost of the ticket - from taxi rank to rank - had yet to be finalised, but Santaco was looking at between R500
and R600. “We will be building everything into one price in the affordable sector,” he said.
The airline would undertake a dry run on September 16, when Santaco would fly members from Lanseria to Durban for its 10th anniversary celebration.
It would open ticket sales immediately after this, with the first commercial flights late in November just in time for the heavy December holiday traffic, Buthelezi said.
Air Aquarius would hand over skills to Santaco and in 18 to 24 months, the taxi association expected to take over the aviation operation, he said.
The airline was one of many initiatives planned by Santaco to reform the taxi industry. Santaco's TR3 2020 vision wants to see the industry become self-sustaining, a leader in mass transportation, and affordable, safe and reliable.
This would involve redefining the scope of the industry to include other transport modes such as bus and rail “to ensure we don't lose our market share”, said Santaco CEO, Bongani Msimang.
Santaco wanted to restructure from an informal industry to one that was “corporatised” or more business-like at all levels, he said.
The industry needed to be repositioned to benefit from the opportunities it created and to have a say in government policy.
“How can we have 15 million commuters passing in our hands every day and yet we are not able to commercialise it?” asked Mthembu.
Msimang said opportunities arose from the estimated R35-billion the industry contributed to the gross domestic product, the 15 to 16 million commuters it transported every day and its contribution to job creation.
The industry provided employment to 283 259 drivers, 80 000 rank marshals, 100 000 conductors, 100 000 car washers and 150 000
informal traders.
Msimang said they would be introducing a training academy to transform the “ad hoc, informal” taxi culture. Santaco was keen to establish private sector partnerships.
“This is an opportunity to partner with the largest black economic empowered group in the country... to improve your BEE status,” said Msimang.
Business opportunities existed in training, taxi finance, local vehicle manufacturing, workshops with vehicle parts and spares and turning taxi ranks into higher-end terminals, among others. The industry, for example, spends around R15-billion on fuel, R2-billion on insurance and R110-million on lubricants.
Santaco was introducing a loyalty programme in July, with an initial membership of 125 000 Santaco members and one million commuters. Members could earn movie tickets or groceries, among other rewards still to be decided.
“It might become the biggest loyalty programme in the country,” said Buthelezi.
Other plans included no-smoking zones at taxi ranks, a cashless system to be introduced early next year, and halving the number of taxi accidents.
Santaco, which represents 95 percent of the South African taxi industry, has commissioned the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research to research the industry, including establishing its exact contribution to the GDP and employment. -Sapa