Visiting EBACE yesterday National Airways Corporation (NAC) of South Africa executives were spreading the word about Africa as a growing market where professionalism is as high as anywhere else. Martin Banner, NAC ceo, told AIN as he walked the halls here that the rest of the world seems to ignore Africa. Yet NAC is a major player comparable with any in the U.S. or Europe.
For 69 years NAC has been the largest GA company in the continent. With headquarters at Lanseria near Johannesburg, where the company runs an FBO, the company is active in a wide range of activities including aircraft sales, maintenance, training and flying operations. The breadth of its operations and its adaptability to market conditions has allowed it to remain profitable through periods where one or other sectors have seen downturns.
NAC was the Hawker Beechcraft dealer in Africa for many years, but now the company sells for a range of OEMs, including Bell and Robinson in the rotary-wing world, Nextant, Eclipse, Piper and Daher in the fixed-wing sector, as well as an agreement with Dassault for the Falcon series.
In recent times sales have been hard to come by for all OEMs in Africa, where a strong local partner such as NAC is vital to success. The slump in oil prices has hit several “hot-spots” such as Nigeria and Angola hard, with a corresponding slow-down in new-aircraft sales. Resale is a much stronger market, and NAC has partnerships with several companies to ensure the supply of quality used aircraft.
NAC operates 148 aircraft and helicopters across a varied fleet, serving a wide range of charter and contract needs. Fixed-wing offerings range from the Boeing 737 down in size to the Beech Baron. Requests that cannot be met from within the NAC fleet, such as large, long-range business jets, are answered by sub-letting in from partners such as Vistajet.
Much of NAC’s charter business is tied up with contracts for large companies, including those in the mineral exploitation and telecommunications industries. While there has been an improvement in air travel connectivity between major cities in Africa in the last decade, commercial air travel to smaller and more remote destinations remains difficult and potentially unsafe.
NAC also has an international operations division, which provides aircraft to organizations such as the United Nations and World Food Program. The company operates the only commercial transport available for charter fitted with infrared missile countermeasures. An EMB-120 Brasilia has been modified with the Saab CAMPS system, and has been used on UN charters in Iraq.
Training is another important element in NAC’s portfolio. The company operates the only Boeing-approved, non-Boeing-owned flight school, where both commercial and military pilots receive instruction. The exchange rate makes South Africa an attractive proposition for training pilots from many nations.
