The SAAF Forum

Why is it such a mission impossible for small airlines in this country to get their sh#t together?
Is the system inherently biased against the little guy?

Many people outside of the major metros depend on these smaller companies. Tomorrow my niece is going to be stranded overnight in Joburg because of this. Her flight from London arrives at FAOR too late for any other flight to Kimberley except CemAir's scheduled evening flight, normally the last of the day into FAKM.

Hey Roger, nice to have you posting again.

Running a Part 121/135 airline is extremely onerous when it comes to regulations. When you're running on thin margins, small back-office support and multi-tasking, I guess there is the temptation to take short-cuts and things slip through the cracks.

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How come every time my ship comes in, I'm at the airport?

I haven't been following Cem Air closely so I can't comment on the specifics but there are always two sides. Needless to say that the airline business is a very demanding.

In order to be successful airlines need to have their internal affairs in order, as well as have the support of suppliers, the government, the authorities, sales channel partners, municipalities, airport authorities , customers, financiers, shareholders, the greater travel industry,and manufacturers to name a few. Other factors are the typical political, economic, social, and legal factors.

Any one of these factors are enough to sink an airline let alone combinations of factors. A figure that often gets mentioned is that the ROCE for airlines is 4%, airlines are the crunch point in the value chain. Success in the airline industry is defined by the ability to survive and continue operations. The factors mentioned above effect both the small and large airlines, its just that the larger airlines can absorb the losses and bad decision making to a greater extent but there is a limit to this as well as demonstrated by the SOE's.

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