Page 14 - World Airnews Magazine July Edition 2020

DRONES CHARTER

CHARTER WEATHERS
SOUTH KOREA PLANS LAUNCH THE STORM

OF AIR TAXI SERVICE BY 2025

By Brian Garrett-Glaser Some have thrived

others have not.
The aircraft charter
business across
Africa has been
affected in different
ways by the
Covid-19 pandemic.

World Airnews
magazine asked
companies to share
their experiences.

flights during the Pandemic, however, with ating staff back to South Africa.
intense lobbying; we managed to open up “Our systems, procedures, and processes
ased in Nairobi, Kenya, Astral Avia- the airports for cargo-flights only. have all improved. A core administration

Bti on was established in November He said right from the start he en- and finance team have been working round

2000 and started operations in January gaged with his staff on the realities of the clock, ensuring robust reporting, mak-

2001. It operates scheduled and non-sched- the pandemic and the need for a change ing it possible for the Manco team to make
uled/ad hoc cargo charters to regional desti- in lifestyle at the work-place and most smart decisions. As most companies, we

nations in Africa and to Liege in Belgium. importantly at home. have relied on online business tools, such

It has a fleet of seven freighter aircrafts “We came up with new procedures on as Microsoft Teams and Zoom to connect

and in March 2020 when the pandemic hit working from home and coming to the of- with staff, stakeholders and clients.

Africa, experienced a reduction in volumes fice thrice a week. We have since adopted In another category the impact of the

of cut flowers due to the shutdown in a new working culture at Astral Aviation virus on smaller private operations has

United States. The Korean automaker has Dyment’s firm estimates Seoul will have various parts in Europe. But there was an which has proven to be very effective in been devastating. A Zimbabwean charter

also created a UAM division, made a series 94 vertiports for UAM use, with total increase in exports of vegetables staying safe. We interact with our clients operation offering personalized flights to

outh Korea plans to have a limited of high-profile industry hires, and pledged ground infrastructure costs of $262 million using webinars and email flyers and this has international clients called ALTAIR shared

“There has been a notable improvement

Scommercial urban air mobility to invest (US) $1.5 billion in the air mobility and unmanned air traffic management in our business in the months of April and worked very well for us.” their experiences with us.

service available by 2025 in an effort to market over the next few years. costs of (US) $458 million - a good ratio of May 2020 due to the increase in demand ExecuJet Africa has offices in Johannes- Director Giles Raynor said, “Our news is

reduce traffic congestion in major cities, However, Hyundai is targeting 2028 for revenue to infrastructure cost. for air-cargo as a reliable form of trans- burg at Lanseria International airport and not good.”

according to the ministry of land, infra- the commercialisation of UAM, beginning “We estimate that by 2040 there could port during the pandemic. “In addition to at Cape Town international airport as well His operations closed at the end of

structure and transport. with overseas markets - a timeline that be over seven million passengers pro- operating on our scheduled network, we as at Murtala Muhammed International March. He has tried to continue to pay his

Beginning with just one or two routes doesn’t match the South Korean govern- cessed per year in the Greater Seoul have increased the number of destina- airport in Lagos, Nigeria. Vice president staff a small retainer but as the months

- or terminals - in the Seoul metropolitan ment’s aggressive 2025 date for initial region,” Dyment said with operator rev- tions during the pandemic from nine to 12 Africa Gavin Kiggen said the impact will be have unfolded this has had to cease as
area, South Korea plans to open ten air taxi service. enues reaching (US) $7.2 billion between scheduled destinations while also giving felt for months, if not years to come. “The there is simply no income.

terminals by 2030. That may mean the government will look 2020 and 2040. high priority towards charters for PPE and pandemic effectively drew a curtain on our “My operation is small, using six small

The ministry expects the UAM market to abroad to Joby Aviation or other manufac- Other megacities in Asia are similarly ex- medical items,” Sanjeev Gadhia, CEO Astral business operations. The challenge with aircraft and the same pilots. Flight bookings

reach (US) $10.8 billion by 2040, focused turers whose electric air taxi designs are ploring integrating air taxis into their urban Aviation limited said. aviation, specifically during Level 5 of lock- are being cancelled daily and we have very

on 18-30-mile trips offering transport in closer to certification. transportation networks. “On the intra African network, we ex- down, was that the movement of people little left for July, 2020. Quite a lot are being

connection with buses, the city’s subway The Greater Seoul metropolitan area In Singapore, the government is working perienced a surge in bookings for PPE and across provincial borders was not allowed. postponed to 2021, but that does not help

system and other forms of mobility. is a highly promising market for urban air with Airbus on unmanned traffic man- medical items which enabled us to perform We then had to refocus and establish other mandatory maintenance and insurance in

“The ministry will join hands with Hyund- mobility, according Nexa Advisors, which agement, while Volocopter and rideshare flights to over 25 destinations in Africa revenue opportunities, which came in the the meantime.

ai Motor Group and other local companies last year released analysis on 75 cities service Grab announced a feasibility study which has been the trend from April and form of cargo flights”. His clients are international including

to push forward the UAM commercial- the firm sees as capable of sustaining a to find the “hottest routes” in the city-state May 2020. Kiggen said various core actions were hunters or photographic safaris and this

isation project,” a ministry official said, UAM market. as well as the broader Southeast region of “We experienced various challenges with taken, from focusing on debtors to growing business completely dried up with the

without identifying other companies that Ranked fifth in population density and Asia. Bell, Japan Airlines and Sumitomo an- new regulations on crew quarantine which the cargo flight charters as well as daily closure of international travel.

may participate. fourth in gross domestic product, Seoul nounced a joint effort to similarly develop resulted in all our crew not being able to cash flow management. “We cannot presume when travel will

In January, Hyundai unveiled its S-A1 also has more existing heliports than any air taxi services in Japan. Q disembark at the destination, in addition to “We have a varied client base that has start or how the virus has impacted on our

vehicle concept and role as a vehicle part- other city in the world, according to Mi- new measures of fumigation of cargo which been supporting ExecuJet during the lock- clients. If this continues well into 2021, we

ner to Uber Elevate, indicating interest in chael Dyment, managing partner at Article courtesy: https://www. applied to certain destinations. down, whether it was a resources client for will have to sell aircraft when there is a

markets outside of South Korea such as the Nexa Advisors. aviationtoday.com/ Certain African countries stopped cargo cargo requirements, or a company repatri- market,” said Raynor. Q
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