The glamorous world of private jets is no longer the domain of the super-rich. Private aviation is set to soar in Africa as business keeps checking in.

Well-heeled women glide in and out of an opulent mansion in a leafy suburb in Sandton, Africa’s richest square mile.
The champagne-colored granite of the stairway meets the elegant tips of their Manolo Blahnik stilettos.
This is a medical aesthetic and holistic wellness center called Anti-Aging Art in the posh suburb in Johannesburg.
It is a home-turned-medical center belonging to Reza Mia, a doctor and co-owner of the clinic patronized by the rich and famous. Mia also happens to design jets, as the founder and CEO of Pegasus Universal Aerospace, an aviation company based in South Africa with the sole purpose of creating innovative aviation solutions.
Between surgical facelifts and building sophisticated jets, Mia finally makes time for an interview at 5PM on a Friday afternoon.
Dressed in navy blue scrubs, he sits on a luxurious leather sofa as he tells FORBES AFRICA about his connection with aviation.
Mia is currently designing a vertical take-off jet that he says will add to the convenience of private travel.
The aesthetic surgeon has been developing the Pegasus One Vertical Business Jet (VBJ1) since 2012, which he says will be completed in three years.
It’s an attempt to revolutionize luxury air travel in South Africa.
“It can land and take off like a helicopter anywhere a helicopter could, in fact more places because it doesn’t have a spinning rotor blade and it is quieter especially for built-up areas and neighborhoods. It can accelerate and fly at the speed of a business jet which is almost 800km/h so that is about four times the speed of a helicopter,” he says.
Cool-air fan technology allows the jet to take off and land anywhere, he adds, which means it’s less hassle for customers.
<div id="attachment_37666" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-37666" class="wp-image-37666 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PrivateJets1-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="494" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PrivateJets1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PrivateJets1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PrivateJets1-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PrivateJets1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PrivateJets1.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" />Photo by Gypseenia Lion</div>
Privacy and convenience count as currency in this business.
Business aviation company, ExecuJet Aviation, currently operates and manages four bases for private jets in Africa.
The Johannesburg base is located at Lanseria International Airport, about an hour’s drive from the city.
The flashy cars in the parking lot speak about the kind of travelers taking off from here.
Staff meander in and out of the private terminal on this busy day, yet there is no millionaire in sight in an expensive Armani suit jetting off for his next business trip.
You never see them, they are that discreet about client privacy.
On a global scale, the company manages and operates about 260 aircraft and is also in Kenya and Nigeria, with the newest entrant in Seychelles.
With almost three decades in the aviation industry, the company has kept a close watch on the rising market of business aviation in Africa.
Stationed on the apron is a white Bombardier Challenger 300 worth about  $26 million.
The nine-seater aircraft boasts a bathroom and features glossy cherry-wood surfaces.
This gloss is all-pervasive and there is not a speck of dust in sight.
The soft, plush carpet is a shade lighter than the grey leather seating decked with comfy cushions that enhance the elegance.
ExecuJet’s Africa Vice President, Gavin Kiggen, says despite the demand and increase for private travel on the continent, perceptions of the industry can be misleading from both a business and client perspective.
“The margins are extremely low and the competition is very strong because you have new entrants who are trying to get market share.
<blockquote>“The perception is that it’s lucrative because of the kinds of tools and services we offer but it is a tough industry to be involved in,” he says.</blockquote>
As a developing region, Africa needs to prioritize infrastructure while attracting sales to uphold the competitive edge in the global business aviation market.
This can be achieved through innovative ideas. Promoting the economic benefits of the market will lure investors from all over the world.
Time waits for no man, and Africa’s elite, exclusive travelers know that only too well.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-37665 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Interior_Supplied-1024x668.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="483" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Interior_Supplied-1024x668.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Interior_Supplied-300x196.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Interior_Supplied-600x391.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Interior_Supplied-768x501.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Interior_Supplied.jpg 1654w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" />
According to a review by Mordor Intelligence, Global business jet market &#8211; growth, trends and forecast (2018 &#8211; 2023), the exclusivity of private jets has ceased to be the domain of the extremely wealthy.
This change is owing to time-share and fractional ownership of aircraft.
ExecuJet reports Africa has 481 registered private jets and the year-on-year growth for the business aviation industry in Africa is 44%.
Private aviation is still a growing market in Africa in comparison to the regions where it is fully developed.
Approximately three quarters of the sale of business jets is in the west, mainly in North America and Europe.
<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2018/10/02/moments-before-an-air-crash/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Moments Before An Air Crash</a>
Predictions are that India and China are well on their way to become market leaders by 2020.
With continued industrial growth in Africa, consequently, there has been a rise in business travel.
Despite the lag in competitiveness on a global scale, private aviation in South Africa, which is Africa’s second-largest economy, has the potential to take the continent to new heights as business keeps checking in.
Private jets are commonly used by high-net-worth individuals, business executives, sports teams and government officials.
Time efficiency is the core reason why these jetsetters prefer private aviation over commercial planes. Greater control over flight schedules and operation of the aircraft forms part of the package.
Add privacy and a dash of luxury and the high-flyer is ready for take-off.
The Jet Traveler Report 2018, the global perspective on who flies privately and how, by Wealth-X, categorizes high-fliers into three types to make a comparison based on their flight preferences. These include owners, members and the wider ultra-high-net-worth audience.
Unsurprisingly, 35% owners of private jets are worth more than $500 million as per The Jet Traveler Report. 
The majority are over 60 years old. ‘Members’ are frequent fliers on membership programs.
Private jets have now also become more accessible and appealing to the wider executive population.
The report states that on-demand private fliers are the youngest and least wealthy ultra-high-net-worth individuals.
In comparison to the wealth of members and owners, these jetsetters have average wealth of $67 million.
Editor and publisher of SA Flyer and FlightCom magazines, Guy Leitch, says although the South African market is showing signs of recovery, there are shortcomings.
<blockquote>“Poor on-the-ground infrastructure for aviation, poor access to aircraft finance and the lack of aircraft does not ensure adequate support for development,” he says.</blockquote>
The same can be argued for the rest of Africa.
According to the Mordor Intelligence review published in April, lack of infrastructure is one the biggest limitations that affect business jet sales in South America, Africa and the Asia-Pacific.
The costs of building the much-needed infrastructure are so high operations may not be feasible.
Regions like Europe and North America with higher private aircraft demands have lower costs. Flying privately in the regions is charged on a one-way basis, therefore costs are reduced as opposed to Africa where charges are doubled.
“In those regions, there is always an aircraft available that’s going to your destination and you can pay a reduced rate because it is considered an empty leg. Our industry is unfortunately not that far ahead yet,” says Kiggen from ExecuJets.
Industry data by Global Jet Capital released in 2017 indicates that 2025 will witness more than 25% growth in the market.
<div id="attachment_37664" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-37664" class="wp-image-37664 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PrivateJets6_GL-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="494" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PrivateJets6_GL-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PrivateJets6_GL-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PrivateJets6_GL-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PrivateJets6_GL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/PrivateJets6_GL.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" />Private Jet. Photo by Gypseenia Lion</div>
The influx of new aircraft on the continent is forecast to have a value of $3.9 billion, or just under $500 million per year.
The emergence of the “African affluent” demographic on the continent has become an important emerging segment for the private aviation sector.
These individuals are younger than their European counterparts and are on average 40 years old, according to a report by ExecuJet called The Evolution of Charter Into Africa 2018.  
Smartphones and technological mobility make it easier for young flyers on the go, and as a result, gives the market more visibility and mileage.
“Social media has also brought a phenomena called the influencer; these are rich kids or media personalities who document their travel through social media (Instagram, Facebook and Twitter),” says Kiggen.
These jetsetters snap the glitz and glamor of private flying and share it with other influencers. This also makes it easier for private charter companies in Africa to attract clients from different spheres of life, thus changing the perception that jets are only used by the ultra-rich and famous.
In addition, an increase in enquiries for hiring the jets, from even car manufacturers for their marketing events, shows the market is paving the way for more diversified business.
Jeremy Nel, the CEO of Luxury Brands, a South African luxury marketing group based in Cape Town, argues that although high-flyers use their mobile devices to source best rates and most direct routes, the reputation of the private charter as a brand is something potential clients continue to look out for.
“The branding of the aircraft is also aligned to be the best fit, most clients who outright purchase an aircraft will take the plethora of advice as to the most suitable model for their needs and then choose from the best breed of operators,” says Nel.
Inner-circle referrals and the relationship the client has with the company, in addition to the preference of a specific pilot, can further influence decision-making.
Back in the richest square mile of Africa, Sandton, in a modern office adorned with waterfalls and earthy décor, a tall man dressed in a blue shirt walks in.
When he is not flying over the shimmering turquoise waters of the Maldives, South African pilot Jack Coetzee is the Managing Director at Quintessential Aviation.
With over 1, 500 flying hours to his credit, Coetzee has seen private jet passengers with requirements ranging from Egyptian cotton linen to Kentucky Fried Chicken on the flight.
“It is aircraft-orientated; they like a specific type of aircraft.
“[The customer] knows how the seats work, he knows the pilots invariably that are flying the aircraft are competent,” he says.
As for aspiring owners, Leitch emphasizes they understand the importance of the technicalities of owning an aircraft, to avoid losing money.
The first step is to determine what it will be used for, and then take the size, range and price parameters into consideration.
“New or used [aircraft], it doesn’t matter. Make sure you can crew it, maintain it, afford it and then order it,” he says.
Much like commercial aviation, owners and private charter companies must comply with air laws and the strict regulations set by the civil aviation authorities.
Odette Basson, Charter Manager Africa, at ExecuJets, says some laws are airfield dependent.
This is based on where you are traveling in and out of, so compliance is critical.
“Yes, you can be an owner of a private aircraft but it doesn’t mean you can just do what you want. There are laws that govern the flying,” she says.
In addition to overseeing operations above the ground, regulators keep a close watch on the hours the crew fly, which aircraft they are flying and how frequently they go for training.
“Your crew must be trained specifically, the aircraft must be maintained specifically and according to the operator’s specifications. You must have a commercial license to operate and you must have an air service license. It is actually very well-regulated and governed to death,” says Kiggen.
And thus it is that millions of dollars fly over the richest and poorest cities of Africa.
The sky is a commodity. How much are you willing to splash out for a piece of it?

PrivateJets_GL

Champagne And Caviar In Private At 30,000FT

plane-crash-651

Moments Before An Air Crash

As a boy, there was never any doubt what Adam Rosman would do when he was older.
“Aviation fascinated me. My friends and I used to build model rockets and fly them at the school fields. I then decided I wanted to be an aeronautical engineer,” he says.
Rosman studied aeronautical engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg. “When I finished, I always wanted to do rocketry, Elon Musk type of stuff.”
He worked at a South African rocket design firm but the company went under. “I think it was just the wrong time, they couldn’t get money,” says Rosman.
<div id="attachment_35983" style="width: 693px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-35983" class="wp-image-35983 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Drones-726-1-683x1024.jpg" alt="" width="683" height="1024" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Drones-726-1-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Drones-726-1-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Drones-726-1-600x899.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Drones-726-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Drones-726-1-768x1151.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Drones-726-1.jpg 1241w" sizes="(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" />Adam Rosman. Photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla.</div>
Back then may have been the wrong time to build rockets, but Rosman seemed to have perfect timing when he started Aerial Monitoring Solutions (AMS) in 2013. The company designs custom drones for the commercial market.
“These aren’t for hobbyists to play around with on the weekend,” he says.
AMS has two drone systems at the moment. One is a large, 2.5-meter, fixed-wing system called the Eagle Owl; the other is a small multicopter system, the Bumble Bee.
As they are customizable, Rosman’s drones have many uses. Farmers use them to inspect the health of their crops and to monitor their fences for security reasons. Game farms use them for fence monitoring, animal counting and anti-poaching. Land surveyors use them to get topographical maps while mining companies use them for ore vein exploration.
“My entire drive is to have something customizable because there’s no one-system-fits-all [solution]. We’ve made a platform that can carry payload, can carry a range of cameras, can do game counting, [and] guys are using it for agriculture.”
There are many drone technology companies emerging in South Africa but Rosman says AMS differs in that it is one of the few that develops hardware, plus it is affordable.
The basic fixed-wing system, with the launch rail, ground control station, antennas, basic day-time camera, and a laptop, will cost about R200,000 ($17,000).
“We found you could purchase systems from overseas that were high precision, but they were hundreds and thousands of US dollars. I felt like they were excluding Africa, or other poorer continents like South America, who can’t afford those systems except if you’re a government or a major company. Why shouldn’t a guy who has a farm and wants to be able to check his fences be able to buy a drone?” he says.
The feature, however, that Rosman takes the most pride in is the robustness of his drones.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/entreprenuers/2017/07/17/mind-blown-drone-160kmh/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Mind Blown By Drone At 160km/h</a>
“From the start, we wanted something that is by Africa, for Africa. It’s got to be able to go into harsh terrain and operate. It’s got to be able to handle the rough handling – like be thrown into the back of a [pick-up truck], driven around on dirt roads, taken out, put together and expected to fly. Unfortunately, I’ve seen some of the demos where the high-end guys come from Europe or America and go to the Kruger National Park, turn on the system but because of the heat it can’t operate,” he says.
“We wanted to give something that could handle anything. If it ends up in a little village covered in dust, and gets dust storms blowing through it every day, it will still be able to operate there or if it’s flying above Kilimanjaro covered in snow.”
Rosman has reason to be proud. He started AMS with nothing but his parents’ garage and a few angel investors.
“I took over my parents’ garage; I kicked them out and said ‘I’m going to work in here’. I brought in equipment and started designing the aircraft in there during the night.”
After a few years, those designs started attracting shareholders.
“They’ve been amazingly supportive. In 2016, they came and saw potential and I’m lucky to have them.”
His parents’ support was just as valuable, even when he was young.
“When I was younger I used to build model aircraft with my dad and then we went on and got remote-controlled gliders and remote-controlled cars. I would build them and play with them for about a week. The next week I would take the entire thing apart because I wanted to see how it worked and then try and put it back together again. To this day, at my folks’ house there are still lots of bits and pieces of aircraft and toys.”
Rosman says drones can kickstart South Africa’s dwindling aviation industry.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2015/10/01/something-to-drone-about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Something To Drone About</a>
“A lot of jobs can be created in the drone space, from operators to maintenance to regulators. It’s a multi-billion-dollar industry. It’s estimated that from the time the industry started, government regulations have hindered 25,000 jobs from being created.”
As the Deputy Chairperson of the Commercial Unmanned Aircraft Association of South Africa (CUAASA), Rosman understands the industry better than most.
“The main hindrance to the entire drone industry is government regulations. They implemented drone regulations in June 2015 and they brought in some very good regulations, they still are very good. The problem is the implementation procedure has taken too long,” he says.
“Operation certificates are supposed to have a 30- to 90-day turnaround time. Realistically, it’s about a two-year turnaround time.”
A CUAASA study revealed that 99% of the drone industry in South Africa is operating illegally because of the time and cost involved in government regulations.
“Before you start making money, to operate legally, you’ve got to have five full-time safety officers, you have to have purchased your drones, and drone technology at the moment becomes obsolete within nine months, but only in possibly two years’ time can you operate.”
AMS also plans to do payload delivery, but needs to wait for the Civil Aviation Authority to legalize it. Another avenue Rosman is looking at is vehicle tracking.
“Why have helicopters in the air? Our systems fly on autopilot, so if you give it the GPS co-ordinates, it’ll go there… If the drone crashes, you only lose some money.”
With the Eagle Owl and Bumble Bee, money is unlikely to be a problem for Rosman.
&#8211; By Gareth Cotterell

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Drones By Africa, For Africa

What drew you to the aviation industry?
I decided to become a pilot when I was four years old. I would see the big noisy bird take off and land at Bujumbura International Airport. I was fortunate enough to fly on the big bird, when I was seven years old, on a family trip to the United States. It was my first flight on a commercial airplane and I loved it.
&nbsp;
Where did you study?
I started my training at Soroti Flying School, also known as East Africa Civil Aviation Academy, in Uganda. I then got a scholarship with RwandAir to continue my commercial license training at Vero Beach Florida, US, at Flight Safety Academy.
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How many people graduated from your flight school and how many of them were women?
At Soroti Flying School, two women had graduated before me that I know of. At Flight Safety Academy, the number was bigger. There were up to 20 female students from all over the world, including the first female pilot from Saudi Arabia, Hanadi Zakaria al-Hindi. There were about 10 female instructors and the chief pilot, Nancy Ritter, was also female. But as many as we were, we did not even make up five percent of the academy.
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How did you feel when you became the first female pilot in Rwanda?
Making history is not my goal, achieving my goals is what I delight in. After getting my commercial license I did not celebrate, I was looking forward to the next cockpit I would get into.
&nbsp;
Your father passed away in a plane crash when you were eight. Did that affect your decision in any way?
No, it did not keep me from my dream. We do not stop driving because loved ones die in car crashes, why stop now? However, it made me realize the value of lives I have on board, so safety is definitely a big deal to me as a pilot.
&nbsp;
Why do you think there are so few women pilots in the world?
Aviation is perceived to be a male career. As the first female pilot in Rwanda, I feel proud to have paved the way for all young dreamers, male or female, to achieve their dreams.
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What challenges have you faced? Do you feel you always have to prove yourself as a woman?
I like to view my challenges as the reasons to celebrate having reached my goal. As a woman in a male-dominated field, there is no doubt that you have to prove yourself, but hard work always pays off.
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What is your power principle?
Do what you love to do and people will appreciate it.

Feel  The Fear And Fly Anyway

At a quarter to noon on a slow Friday in November, Aslam Khan is in a hurry. As he leaves his third floor corner office, he punches buttons on his BlackBerry. “I’ll be there in a flash,” he says in a deep baritone voice that doesn’t appear to fit his body.
Khan is the chairman and co-founder of Aviation Leasing Services (ALS) Ltd, an aircraft rental company based in Nairobi. He knows that when it comes to flying, time is of the essence, and he runs downstairs to the hangar where Captain Nahashon Mutea is waiting for him in a chopper.
The journey to Kisumu, a city 500 kilometres west of Nairobi on the shores of Lake Victoria, lends a rare chance to interview the aviation entrepreneur where he makes his money—up in the air. Khan, a renowned rally driver, has a tough race the following day, but right now that is the least of his worries as the helicopter rattles through headwinds.
“Kenya is such a beautiful country,” he says, peering down at the green tea estates hemmed in by forests that dot the Great Rift Valley.
Flying a chopper on a hot and humid day is a study in the business of running an aviation company. Everywhere you look there are risks—turbulence, fog and the deadly possibility of mechanical failure. As co-founder of ALS Ltd 20 years ago, Khan, along with his late brother Ashraf, has piloted the company from a scrappy outfit, with a single Cessna 150 aircraft, to a thriving company with 25 planes and three subsidiaries.
“The aviation business is not for the faint-hearted,” says Khan, who turned 60 in December. “It’s a very sensitive business.”
It is so sensitive that the recent volatility in the Kenyan shilling forced the company to charge Kenyan clients in dollars to avoid exchange rate losses. Even a small rise in interest rates can ground business, he says, given that regular piles of cash are needed to finance operations.
ALS Ltd leases aircraft to humanitarian organizations like the Red Cross and World Food Program as well as oil companies; it also operates charter flights for businesses. The firm has shareholdings in local airlines Safarilink and Severin Air Safaris and runs Heliservices, a wholly owned helicopter division.
Khan is a former Kenya Airways (KQ) pilot with experience in the Kenyan Air Force. He joined the Air Force in 1970, where he completed his training as a pilot. Six years later, he joined East African Airways, which was later absorbed by Kenya Airways when it was carved from the regional carrier in 1977. He says that if it were not for the Air Force, he would probably be doing something different today as his father could not afford fees for a commercial flying school.
“When I was growing up, I always wanted to be a pilot,” he said back at his office at Wilson Airport, near Nairobi, “but I also dreamed of owning a professionally run business. I had achieved my pilot dream; now it was time to chase the business aspiration.”
While at Kenya Airways, Khan says he started saving up and together with his brother, Ashraf, they bought a small Cessna 150 aircraft worth $7,000 so Ashraf could learn to fly. That was a fortune in an era when flying, let alone owning a plane, was a luxury for government officials and rich businessmen.
“We leased the plane to a flying school and discovered that it was an interesting business,” says Khan.
The lease gave them the business name, Aviation Leasing Services, too. As ALS’s fleet of aircraft rose, so did Khan’s position; he became the Airbus captain for Kenya Airways in 1991.
At the time, Somalia was slipping into anarchy as President Siad Barre was overthrown. Sudan was at war. Humanitarian organizations started trooping into the countries to assist the innocent civilians caught in civil war. This presented an opportunity in the relief business which Khan and his brother seized. Most aircraft serving the countries were foreign, mainly from South Africa.
“We got into relief and grew the business over the years,” he says.
Expansion was a problem—in the 1990s, financing was hard to come by, especially for African-owned businesses.
“We had to depend on leasing aircraft from outside because there was some kind of stigma about Africans. We had to negotiate through leasing until we started owning our own airplanes.”
ALS outgrew the stigma and eventually won the confidence of banks to expand its fleet. Khan had to quit his captain’s job in 1992 to take charge of the business and in the same year, his brother and co-director died in a plane crash. Every opportunity in aviation came with competition and as he discovered to his chagrin, pilots were not only rare and sought after, they were also fickle and open to the highest bidder.
“We do a lot of pilot training, but many move on to other airlines. It’s a reality we have to live with. Retention of pilots is a major problem because people tend to move to better conditions and bigger airplanes. We try to have retention schemes and more opportunities for pilots to grow, but it’s hard to stop it.”
With ALS and three other aviation companies, Khan is still dreaming big. Last year, he relinquished the CEO post to Cornwell Muleya, a professional airlines manager from Zambia, partly as a succession plan and to bring in new ideas. Going forward, ALS plans to work with Kenya School of Flying, which is run by captain Martin Ririani, his former colleague at Kenya Airways, who quit to start training pilots.
“We want to set up an academy for flying,” says Khan. “Kenyans are hard-working and there’s huge potential for pilots, even in the region. The only way to overcome supply and demand is to have enough pilots. We’ve got infrastructure to train and the opportunities. Many people leave Kenya to go to South Africa and the US to train as pilots. Local facilities are inadequate, so we are in negotiation with schools in Europe and South Africa to see if we can partner and set up a high-standard flying academy.”
The larger plan is to make ALS a one-stop shop for aviation services and solutions—from leasing aircraft and training pilots to operating scheduled flights. This is a highly capital-intensive business and the founder is scouting for a management buyout to bring in investors.
The idea of a management buyout is more of a succession plan. The business is very much a family culture, he says, and he is looking to change that by turning it into a corporate business. “This is very important,” says Khan, who was voted the best rally driver for 2011 by the Kenya Motorsports Association.
“To achieve success companies have to be run professionally. Family can be involved in the business, but successful companies are the ones that follow corporate governance.”
He says family-owned companies lose out on the contribution given by professional managers, though they enjoy the virtue of trust—critical for business and hard work. But trust can be extended to employees if you find the right ones. Khan says that in a competitive market, even family members find it hard to resist the allure of better opportunities outside. “My niece started with us as a pilot; now she has joined Kenya Airways.”
Reputation is critical and so the company’s operations constantly undergo audits carried out by its customers and industry regulators. The company invested millions of dollars in meeting security and safety benchmarks, including IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certification for meeting international aviation safety standards in June 2011. It is the second after KQ in Kenya to get such a certification. In September of the same year, the firm was admitted to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), joining KQ and Precision Air in East Africa.
Khan says this has positioned ALS to partner with major airlines and global aviation firms to expand its market. It can now lease its aircraft to leading airlines and is in talks with national carrier Kenya Airways. It already leases to RwandAir, Southern Star Airlines in South Sudan and an airline in Sierra Leone.
To serve bigger carriers it needs medium-sized planes in the 70 passenger capacity. But that needs more cash, he says, with a single unit going for $10-25 million. “We are looking at Dash 8 models. But then this means we need cash to buy enough parts and staff like crew and engineers etc., and unless it is backed up with a contract, it’s difficult and risky to invest.”
ALS has found itself with idle planes like other airlines—unable to stay afloat due to cash flow problems which ground operations, such as the Southern Star of Juba and an airline based in Sierra Leone, which stopped operations last year.
Piloting and rallying experience has given Khan some of the most important management traits: focus and attention to detail. “Rallying has been very much in the family and when on the rough and at times muddy roads you must focus, just as with managing any business.”
Rallying is an expensive hobby and he has to invest both time and money into it. His best career moment, he says, was when he qualified as a pilot in the Air Force. So does that mean good pilots make good managers?
“Good pilots are not necessarily good managers and good managers are not necessarily good pilots. I’m lucky I got both,” he says philosophically.

From The Cockpit To Corporate Suite

As far corporate dreams go, Titus Naikuni’s is a grand one. The group managing director and chief executive officer of Kenya Airways (KQ) wants to become the British Airways of Africa by doubling its fleet and destinations in the next five years.
“We want to expand our fleet from 33 to 68 in the next five years, then to 170 in the next 10 years,” he says. “And our destinations from the current 55 to slightly over 100.”
The airline flies to 45 countries in Africa, and if you throw in South Sudan, Kenya Airways has nine countries to go before its deadline of 2013. From those 45 destinations the airline rakes in 60% of business from the continent, carrying more than 1.8 million passengers a year. “We still have a lot to do in terms of frequencies. We have more than one frequency only in East Africa and South Africa. I want to be in a position where every city has more frequencies. Right now you can fly from here to Jo’burg in the morning and come back in the evening. See what that has done to business.”
In Naikuni’s top drawer lies an A4 printout of an economic analysis of Africa by The Economist and the International Monetary Fund, titled African Opportunity.
According to its figures, the continent is among the fastest growing economies in the world. In the 2001-2010 decade, six African countries—led overall by Angola at 11.1%, then Nigeria, Ethiopia, Chad, Mozambique and Rwanda in that order—were among the world’s 10 fastest growing economies alongside China, Myanmar, Kazakhstan and Cambodia.
But what has caught the eye of managers at KQ headquarters lately is the 2011-2015 projections of global economic growth. While it puts China number one overall, with 9.5% average annual growth during the period, it lists seven countries from Africa among the top 10, led by Ethiopia at 8.1%, followed by Mozambique, Tanzania, Congo, Ghana, Zambia and Nigeria.
“That tells you where the money is,” says the Harvard Business School graduate and qualified mechanical engineer from the University of Nairobi.
“Africa has the biggest potential for business in the world. African routes are profitable, if you don’t look at a route on its own but the network created. You could lose money on one route but feed into others to make up for it.”
It has not been all rosy for Kenya Airways, though.
There have been bad moves, like flying to Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, where government restrictions led to the airline closing.
For close to four years, airlines have been on tenterhooks after demand fell during the financial crisis. The latest forecasts are not a pretty sight.
While the International Air Transport Association (IATA) upgraded its net profit forecast for the global airline industry in September from $4 billion to $6.9 billion in full-year 2011, it still projects a lower net profit of $4.9 billion for 2012 due to sluggish growth and weak profits.
Yet with the rise of Africa’s economic power, airlines are often times dealing with the opposite: moments when there are too many travelers for a few planes to soak up.
So, those who can afford it are increasing frequencies and routes to draw in excess travel demand when it happens.
“Amazingly, Africa is starting from a low base in economic growth. Many of the things that affect other major airlines globally like SARS, the 9/11 recession, don’t affect Africa. What tends to be common is fuel,” says Naikuni.
Kenya Airways, listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange in 1996, has managed to survive fuel cost volatility which it hedges by taking long-term fuel contracts at a fixed price. “Three years ago, we didn’t get it right. We hedged top end, at a higher price, and when it came down it was so much, we really suffered. Now we hedge top and bottom but you can’t hedge everything,” he told FORBES AFRICA.
Naikuni joined KQ in February 2003 from a mining company, and talks of competition with the spirit of a Moran, the name given to the ferocious warriors of his Maasai community.
“Competition will never kill you, it is healthy,” he says.
Naikuni has arguably turned around Kenya Airways to be one of the most profitable airlines in Africa. It remains a top performer on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, where it listed in 1996 through an IPO.
Brought in from February 2003, after revenues started slowing down in 2000, Naikuni introduced what he called “shock therapy”. It included streamlining management and reducing waste—some managers were fired and new faces brought in.
“You must focus on people and lead them in the right direction. Give them hope and pay them well, though no one has been satisfied with money. I also give people space, but it doesn’t mean I won’t come down on you,” he says.
The same year that Naikuni took the helm, Kenya Airways bought a 49% stake in regional Tanzanian carrier Precision Air, to counter South African Airways’ 49% buy-in in Air Tanzania.
Later, he closed down Flamingo Airlines, which had been set up in 2000 to provide feeder services for domestic fleets. Now, he is reviving a similar model next year through Jambo Jet.
“Abandoning the domestic circuit was a mistake. We let our rivals dominate but we are regaining the market,” he says.
The other strategic move was to pull out of Kencargo, the cargo firm jointly owned by KLM, to form KQ Cargo, which has proved profitable.
His tactic of offering lower prices on domestic routes, which has turned Kenya Airways into a virtual monopoly, is deeply unpopular at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the region’s airline hub where rivals like JetLink, Fly540 and Air Kenya also operate.
Many view the move as tantamount to grounding its competitors, to which Naikuni replies: “If you go in the kitchen, be prepared to face the heat and if you are not, open the window and jump out.”
Then, there’s the issue of the Douala accident, in which a Kenya Airways Boeing 737-800 crashed in a swamp in Cameroon and killed all 114 people on board. As the African opportunity expansion unfolds, that incident remains etched  in Naikuni’s mind.
“We have recovered from it,” he says, but the impact is still evident in his tone.
It’s a sobering thought as Naikuni reaches for the skies.

Tag: Aviation

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