Andre van Zyl=20
Aircraft manufacturers’ eyes are on South African=20 Airways (SAA) as it prepares to announce details within=20 the next two months of its billion-dollar fleet=20
SAA’s Leon Els said aircraft manufacturers Airbus=20 Industrie, Boeing and McDonnell Douglas have put=20 forward written proposals for what they saw as the=20 ideal fleet composition for the airline.=20
At this stage of negotiations all parties are fairly=20 tight-lipped about exactly which aircraft are on offer=20 to SAA. But, Airbus Industrie spokesman for Southern=20 Africa, Linden Birns, confirmed that the manufacturer=20 was proposing the long range A340 — of which there=20 will soon be three variants available.
One variant, the 8000, is designed to fly non-stop=20 distances of more than 8 000 nautical miles, or about=20 14 800 kilometres, which, says Birns, will allow SAA to=20 offer direct flights to a new range of distant cities – – for instance, from Johannesburg to New York.
Els said the fleet expansion was part of a medium- to=20 long-term planning process for the period to the year=20 2000 and beyond. SAA did not request specific aircraft=20 and there has been no decision on how many aircraft it=20 will buy or what the capital outlay will be. An initial=20 figure of 10 aircraft costing about $1-billion, has=20 been bandied about.
Els said SAA was looking at a mixture of aircraft with=20 different capacities. Apart from routes to the United=20 Kingdom and Western Europe, the airline services longer=20 routes to the United States and the Far East as well as=20 shorter routes into Africa and medium routes into the=20 Middle East.
”Further discussions will take place between the=20 airline and the manufacturers,” said Els.
”The SAA committee will then complete a full evaluation=20 of the proposals and will make recommendations as to=20 what the ideal fleet will be and what the cost=20 implications are to the Transnet board of directors,=20 who will make the ultimate decision. This process will=20 probably take another month or two,” he said.
‘The past constraints under which the country conducted=20 trade have been removed and the democratisation process=20 should provide further impetus to economic growth=20 within the framework of the Reconstruction and=20 Development Programme.”
Fulton said Africa was seen as South Africa’s greatest=20 market. ”It is interesting that we export intermediate=20 and primary products to the rest of the world but most=20 of our exports to Africa are manufactured goods.”
”We are hoping to create a fourth economic bloc that is=20 the continent of Africa.” =20
He echoed Motlana’s comments that there was plenty of=20 money available for investment, adding that South=20 Africa was competing with 176 countries for that=20 investment and had to convince investors it was a=20 viable market in which to invest.
He said foreign interest was not viewed as a threat to=20 the development of small and medium enterprises as the=20 DTI was concentrating on joint ventures which would=20 enable local businesses to reach bigger markets.
He said steps undertaken to improve trade included the=20 reduction of the average level tariffs over a five to=20 six year period from around 20 percent to around 12=20 percent, the lowering of company tax, the relaxation of=20 exchange control, lowered inflation, the phasing out=20 of import controls, and improved market access through=20 the negotiation of general systems of preferences=20 access to the US, European and Japanese markets.