Page 62 - World Airnews Magazine February 2020 Edition

REVIEW REVIEW

known for doing so over the end-of-year period. By its own admis- arrivals at KSIA, it was apparent that 2019 would be a new record (later Bombardier) CRJ 100 during these same times, when char- the three Proflight arrivals at Durban, only two sourced direct from

sion, the airline was simply answering the call for greater passen- year. With 395 confirmed arrivals, it was. This represents 24% of tering in a replacement aircraft would not be productive due to the Lusaka and the third, unusually, from Port Elizabeth. This was the

ger demand on this route at this time. What's more, this period total FBISPO actual arrivals for 2019. concomitantly low load factors. result of a charter, this time to Port Elizabeth direct from Lusaka

of plenty was not just a short sprint but ultimately turned into a Most would agree that 25 extra arrivals for the year by compari- During April, the starboard side of the fore fuselage was on October 19, which saw the CRJ reposition to Durban empty on

spectacular marathon lasting seven-and-a-half successive weeks! son with 2018's 370 is nothing short of a stellar performance! This seen to sport a temporary decal advertising the Mosi Day of the 19th to overnight before completing the usual scheduled direct

Emirates' Boeing 777-300ERs are available in three distinct seat- translates into Emirates' having its highest average weekly total Thunder music event to be held in Livingstone, Zambia over Sunday flight back to Lusaka on the 20th.

ing arrangements for maximums of 354, 360 and 427 passengers. of actual arrivals at Durban for the year of 7.6, up 0.5 from both the Easter weekend and sponsored by Proflight. The right By sheer coincidence, this writer just so happened to be at
To date, only the latter configuration has been employed to Durban 2017's and 2018's equivalent of 7.1. hand fuselage side simultaneously sported the words 'partners King Shaka at the time of the above arrival from PE and noticed

and offering 42 Business and 385 Economy option seats with no Indeed, Emirates is clearly head and shoulders above the rest in aviation'. the regular airport passenger bus drive out to load the usual

First Class. However, starting June 14, the 360-seat configuration and it seems impossible that any other existing FBISPO could As in previous years, Proflight has leased in aircraft to fill in for passengers, only to be no doubt informed that there were none!

was introduced to Durban for the first time recently, but only on ever hope to compete with it in anything like equal terms. its CRJ when the latter was unavailable during busier periods. The The conversation at the aircraft might have gone something

the extra four flights per week. This had 8 First Class, 42 Business week of June 24 to 30 was a notable exception, however: Accord- like this: “Sorry, bud, but we were transporting delegates for

and 310 Economy seats. PROFLIGHT ZAMBIA ing to a spokesperson for Proflight, this week is traditionally “...the the local ghost convention, so our passengers won't be needing

But, observers were held in suspense. To what frequency would Proflight Zambia has become known for its uncharacteristic way second busiest of the entire year due to the double public holiday your transport on this occasion.” Doubtless, a gullible bus driver

the airline return following this period of plenty? Five, six or the of doing things, this being as much a product of operating just (Monday and Tuesday) in Zambia”. As such, the airline considered might have resorted to some spirits of a liquid nature upon his

now traditional average of seven flights per week, as maintained one example of its principle type routinely flown on its Durban- it prudent to also have on hand a Boeing 737-500, as is occasionally return to the terminal.

over the nine preceding years? bound route – the CRJ 100, than for any other reason. But, unique leased from Africa Charter Airline, both to serve as a back-up air According to a Proflight spokesperson, there were a total

The week starting August 5 witnessed the immediate return to challenges require unique solutions, and this airline seems never to spare and to cater for greater capacity requirements that might of 143 confirmed scheduled arrivals at KSIA in 2019, 111

seven flights per week and local Emirates fans doubtless breathed be out of new ideas for overcoming its unique challenges, where at arise over this time. (77.6%) of these being undertaken by their lone, owned CRJ.

a collective sigh of relief. all possible. Its use brought about an interesting development which even This is a, no doubt, welcome increase of nine flights over

One could only but speculate, with great anticipation, what It would thus come as no surprise that it was the maverick Proflight could surely not have anticipated and which set a new 2018's total of 134 actual scheduled arrivals. Despite this

2019's end of year period was going to be like. Would it similar- Poflight Zambia that logged the first significant anomaly local record at KSIA: the first time in the history of the airport increase, however, Proflight remains the smallest FBISPO serv-
ly witness record numbers of additional flights laid on? Indeed! for 2019. that any FBISPO had operated three disparate aircraft types ing KSIA in terms of both passenger arrivals figures and total

A total of eight successive days of two flights daily commenced On January 15, 2019 this airline temporarily suspended its on three successive flights and this over the course of but one actual aircraft arrivals.

from December 13 and ended on December 20. The week starting next five scheduled services to Durban due to a dearth of week! It flew it usual three scheduled flights that week. Its As has always been the case with Proflight, its flight frequencies

December 16 thus saw an all- time record 12 Emirates actual passengers on some flights and in some cases none, an annual CRJ100ER 9J-PZA flew on June 25 and the leased Fokker 70 (c/n varied more than any other FBISPO this year with troughs of zero

scheduled arrivals at KSIA, improving by one on the previous phenomenon typical to this airline at this time of year and 11559) ZS-SKA on the next flight on June 27 and then Boeing flights per week (see Table 1), while it also tasted every step up

record established earlier in the year (see above). In total during caused by the specialist nature of the clientele it attracts. The 737-529 (c/n 25418) ZS-PKV on the third and final flight for that to its peak of 4 flights weekly, although its annual weekly average

2019, twin flights occurred on 43 days of the year (12%), the bal- few passengers that had booked were rerouted on connecting week on June 30. number of flights was higher for 2019 at 2.8 compared to 2018's

ance being single flights. Clearly, 13 or 14 flights per week would flights via Johannesburg on another airline or refunded their At the time it seemed impossible that this record could ever be figure of 2.6. Achieving a solid three flights per week average must

not seem out of reach for this airline and do not be surprised if it is flight ticket values. Scheduled services only resumed again on equalled yet alone beaten, but maverick is as maverick does and surely be Proflight's immediate goal.

achieved in 2020. Sunday, February 3. maverick did (see below). In 2019 Proflight Zambia achieved 9% representation of total

Unusually, it was while the last batch of twin flights was in prog- This is not the first time that Proflight has resorted to such Although the Fokker 70 has frequently been called on for FBISPO actual arrivals.

ress, during December, that Boeing 777-21H(LR), A6-EWH, arrived drastic measures during particularly lean times. In fact there are a the Lusaka-Durban route in the past, since first being leased Without any doubt, Proflight Zambia continues to be one of the

at Durban on both December 15 and 17. This is believed to be the few occasions throughout the year when, due to factors beyond in by Proflight in February 2018, this was the first occasion more interesting and unpredictable FBISPOs at King Shaka and in

first Boeing 777-200 to have been used by Emirates to KSIA on this airline's control, passenger numbers are rather 'thin' to say that the Boeing had flown a scheduled service to Durban. In ways that far outstrip its meagre passenger numbers. Truth be

scheduled passenger use in at least two years. the least. Where possible, it attempts to also co-ordinate shorter fact, following this June 30 flight, the Boeing again flew on the told, aviation at KSIA would be all the poorer without Proflight's

Compared with 2017's then record 371 total actual Emirates periods of scheduled maintenance (a week or two) on the Canadair very next scheduled flight to KSIA on July 2, before the Fokker humble, but ever colourful input. Long live Proflight operations to

resumed services again from July 4. In 2018, the same Boeing Durban.
had flown to Durban to collect passengers stranded there due Proflight Zambia's review was more detailed than others due to

to a CRJ unserviceability, but this was obviously not a sched- the support and from the company. A note to others that more
uled flight. co-operation leads to a more detailed review.

Another African Charter Airline Boeing 737, this time -5Y0

model, ZS-TGY (c/n 25183), was called on to fulfill the Durban- QATAR AIRWAYS

bound flights on both July 28 and 30. This is believed to be the first Qatar Airways (QA) has been another solid performer as far as

occasion that this registration had conducted a scheduled flight on flight frequencies is concerned, the FBISPO not dropping a single

behalf of Proflight to Durban. flight throughout the year. But, this airline accounted for one of

The above detailed four Boeing 737 utilisations were the only the most significant developments for the year becoming the only
flights by this type for Proflight for the year. By comparison, FBISPO to make a permanent main aircraft type change in 2019. By

over the full 2019 period, the Fokker 70 completed a total of so doing, it became the first FBISPO at KSIA to have operated three

27 flights. main aircraft types on sustained services and this after only a four
On August 18, 2019 Proflight Zambia broke its own record year tenure at Durban.

(see above), becoming the first FBISPO to have used no fewer After starting its Durban services with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner

than four main aircraft types on its Durban route over the on December 17, 2015, on March 26, 2018 the airline transitioned
course of only three weeks! Between July 30 and August 20, it to the larger Boeing 777-300. However, only 15 months and three

flew the Boeing 737, Fokker 70, BAE Jetstream 41 and finally its days later and after completing only 254 total arrivals on the latter,
own CRJ to KSIA. QA switched permanently to the ultra-modern Airbus A350 on

The J41 was not one of its own examples, two of which had June 29, 2019. QA thus became the first FBISPO to operate this
simultaneously fallen due for C-checks and were thus unavail- airliner from Durban.
able to help out. On this date, both the Boeing 737 and Fokker QA's B777-300ERs appear in four different seating configura-
70 were also unavailable while the CRJ was on maintenance. tions ranging from maximums of 335 up to 412 passengers. Only
SAA could also not assist by accommodating Proflight's al- Business and Economy class options are offered. Similarly, only
ready-booked passengers to Durban. This required the lease of Business and Economy class options make up the seat maps of
ZS-JSM from Lanseria International Airport-based MCC Aviation QA's A350-900, seating up to 283 or significantly less than in
(Pty) Ltd. The CRJ returned to the flight roster for the next Prof- the B777.

light flight on August 20. This Jetstream 41 flight on August 18 Despite airline mutterings that the change was

Four different aircraft types served Durban on Proflight Zambia's behalf during 2019, but 111 of its 143 was the sole use of this type on scheduled passenger services inspired by QA's desire to bring greater technologies

total arrivals for last year were still concluded with the airline's single CRJ 100ER 9J-PZA, here seen by Proflight to Durban in the year. to the Durban route via the more modern aircraft

loading its final passenger before departure from KSIA on December 26, 2019 (by Clinton Barnard) The week of October 14 to 20 saw yet another anomaly when, of type, one can safely speculate that the real reason To page 62

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