FUNKE OSAE-BROWN
Vuyani Jarana, CEO, South African Airways (SAA) has said the airline will continue to improve it services in the Nigerian market. Jarana said this at the media meeting to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of South African Airways at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria.
He said the Nigerian market has shown a lot of loyalty to the SAA brand. “We are not taking this for granted, he said. We have introduced new aircrafts. We will continue to improve the services in the market. We are forging new partnerships with other airlines to enter into markets in America.”
In addition, he said there is a lot of work to be done while showing confidence that the airline is on the right path of progress.
“There have been a number of strategies. There is nothing wrong with capital injection. It is not that we don’t have strategies. What has been lacking is the implementation of the strategy. It isn’t that SAA does not have strategy. We have put that into the domestic market to improve the margin above the profit level.”
He explained that in spite of the new strategies, SAA will not trade profitability for scale. “The next thing to do look at cost, things that we don’t really need or have that we can negotiate better for. In doing that, we have to put our mind on the market and put great service on flights so that customers can choose SAA above other airlines.”
Jarana observed that after the capital injection into SAA, it will take al least three years for the airline to break even. “The capital injection is part of the turnaround process so as to make it break even. Our management has to improve on the strategy and we are making good progress.”
Also, he said the next big plan for SAA in the Nigerian market is to look for other opportunities such as how to tap into the outbound to other markets like the United Kingdom and the United States.
