Airlines are going through tough times. Although passenger numbers are rising, fuel prices are reaching record levels and new or higher taxes are adding to their costs. But aircraft manufacturers, who are working with airlines to find ways of reducing their emissions of carbon dioxide, are confident that the industry will grow, with more people flying and more pilots needed.
SAA and Cathay Pacific Airlines share this view and both are preparing to start training academies to help meet the future need for pilots. SAA said recently that it was looking for a first-class pilot training school to launch and run its academy.
Our national airline used to have a cadet training scheme, which was, unfortunately, axed at a time when SAA was cutting costs to return to profitability after multimillion losses, and since then it has been giving only the refresher training compulsory for all pilots working for scheduled airlines. But it needs an average of 45 new pilots a year to compensate for natural attrition and to be able to grow its route network.
SAA’s pilot skills are highly regarded. Most of them were either trained in the air force or have at least seven years’ experience flying charter aircraft or as junior flying instructors. Now SAA aims to attract an intake of between 150 and 200 students a year. It is expected that full training from the day of intake to the first day on the flight deck of a passenger plane will take between three and five years and cost between R1 million and R2m. Pilots sponsored by SAA will be expected to repay some of the cost of their training if they do not remain in the employ of the airline for an agreed time. SAA will also aim at training a higher proportion of formerly disadvantaged pilots.
Aircraft manufacturer Boeing also provides training for future pilots and entered a partnership with 43Air School (Pty) Ltd, so far the largest training school in SA, last November.
Heavy tax
The higher taxes making life difficult for SAA and other airlines include the new carbon trading scheme introduced by the EU in January, under which all airlines flying into the EU have to buy units to compensate for emissions from the moment of take-off. It is, in fact, a discriminatory tax on airlines flying long distances outside EU airspace and has provoked threats of retaliatory action by other countries, including China and the US.
This could have serious effects on other industries, including tourism, and lead to widespread job losses. Minister of Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk appealed to the EU in a hard-hitting speech at a conference in Geneva last week to leave aviation out of the carbon trading scheme for two years while the industry finds ways to reduce its emissions.
New generation planes, which most airlines are acquiring, use less fuel and emit less pollution, and the International Air Travel Association has persuaded some governments to allow flying over shorter routes. It aims to make the industry carbon-neutral by 2050.
Several airlines have co-operated with manufacturers to experiment with biofuels causing less pollution. The latest move is an agreement between Airbus, Boeing and the Brazilian-based manufacturer Embraer to work together on the development of affordable biofuels and speak in one voice.
Tom Enders, president of Boeing commercial planes, said a lot had been achieved in the past 10 years, including a 45 percent growth in air traffic with only a three percent rise in fuel consumption.
Destination India
Kenya Airways, which flies between Joburg and Nairobi, offers a convenient way to reach some destinations to which there are no direct flights from SA. It has just added New Delhi to its list – its second destination in India after Mumbai, to which SAA and Jet Airways fly from Joburg. Unfortunately, no airline offers direct flights to India from Cape Town yet.
I wrote in my last column that Middle Eastern airline Etihad flew from Cape Town. In fact, Etihad withdrew its service from our airport in November to improve its daily services between Joburg and its home airport of Abu Dhabi. I’m told that it may increase these to two flights a day. - Weekend Argus