Barrett hails local aviation industry
Barrett hails local aviation industryBy Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Tuesday May 06, 2008 [04:00]
THE rapid growth in local aviation industry will eventually limit participation of foreign airlines in the country’s airline sector, Proflight general manager for operations Mark Barrett has observed. And Barrett has said Proflight had adequately prepared itself for this year’s tourism season.
In an interview after Proflight announced the addition of a brand new 12-seater air caravan to its charter fleet and simultaneously flew its potential customers who included British High Commissioner to Zambia Alistair Harrison to David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation Orphanage for elephants at Ngoma in Kafue National Park, Barrett also commended the government for rehabilitating airport infrastructure in the country.
He said although the airline industry demanded a lot of capital investments, most local airline operators had done impressively well despite not having good access to finance.
“The private sector has done well in the growth and expansion of the airline industry in the last couple of years despite the high cost of airplanes and running the aviation industry at large,” Barrett said.
“And I think that while concerns that foreign airlines are benefiting from the booming economy especially are partially true, most Zambians still don’t’ have enough capital to invest in sort of business like aircrafts but I think the participation of foreign airlines in this economic boom will be limited by growth of the local airline.
“Just last week, our competitors, Zambian Airways launched scheduled services from Livingstone to South Africa and that sort of decision stops some of the other foreign operators from coming.
But within Zambia itself, the aviation industry, there is really no competition from outsiders. It is all contained within our own companies because we now have a number of charter companies in Zambia.
Government should also be commended for investing heavily in improvement of airports and navigation facilities at the airports…Livingstone International Airport is an example. So I think government is doing its part.”
And Barrett said that Proflight would continue to consolidate its position by providing charter services to the tourism industry where the airline enjoys a huge market niche.
Labels: AIRPORTS, MARK BARRETT, PROFLIGHT
posted by MrK @ 9:43 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home