A scheduled air service in Grahamstown could see demand from as many as 100 passengers a day from the surrounding game lodges alone.
A scheduled air service in Grahamstown could see demand from as many as 100 passengers a day from the surrounding game lodges alone.
This was among the startling figures quoted during a stakeholder meeting with CemAir CEO Miles van der Molen at the Graham Hotel in Grahamstown on Monday 8 December.
The figure came from Kwandwe General Manager Graeme Mann, who revealed that the custom in transfers for that reserve alone is currently worth around half a million rands a year.
"And that's without the visitors who hire cars or come by chartered flight," he told Grocott's Mail after the meeting. Several game lodge owners showed strong support for the proposed service at Monday's briefing.
As enthusiastic were local businesspeople including developer David Davies, whose planned middle-income housing development on the present site of the golf course will be at close quarters to the runway. Van der Molen emphasised that the Grahamstown-OR Tambo service, R1 700-R2 250 one way, was not a low-cost option.
"The value of the service is convenience," he said. Emphasising that the company would start conservatively, using existing infrastructure, he said there would nevertheless be several service provision requirements that would offer business or work opportunities in Grahamstown.
The provision of A1 fuel at airline rates, ticket sales and queries, lost luggage storage facilities, a security x-ray machine, baggage handlers, security and fire services would be among the service's operational requirements.
The craft used will be Beech 1900 turbo-prop planes, which are able to land and take off on the Grahamstown runway. Jet craft would need a longer runway than the existing 1 200m. DA councillor Brian Fargher said if the service got going, Grahamstown would make Margate – where CemAir also operates a service – look "second-tier".
Also upbeat about the move was Davies, whose other developments include the new golf course in Belmont Valley. He said noise from the turbo-prop planes would be minimal compared to jet aircraft, and infrequent and was confident this would not negatively impact the Cradock Road housing development.
"Makana and Ndlambe are a unit when it comes to development," Davies said.
"The aim is to develop the region. To do that you've got to get the logistics right."
Recalling the horror
“The horror of seeing a crash site cannot be described. Either it will drive you mad – or it will make you do everything in your power to ensure nothing like that ever happens again.”
CemAir CEO Miles van der Molen told Grocott's Mail how a 1999 crash in which nine IT specialists and a pilot were killed in a Piper Chieftain aircraft had changed everything in his life.
The plane belonged to Van der Molen's former company Flightline Charter Services. According to a 2002 Independent Online report, the Civil Aviation Authority found in May that year that his negligence led to their deaths.
Internet searches also link Van der Molen to a 2008 crash in South Sudan.
The Beech 1900C was leased by CemAir. Twenty people were killed including two South Sudan government officials.
Of the first, Van der Molen says, "It was very, very sad. It's the reason I now manage everything very closely and carefully. I can only sleep if I know I've done everything in my power to ensure things are done properly.
"I was 24 – young and enthusiastic – but poor at record-keeping. It ended badly and we couldn't defend our position. The plane was piston-powered, so intrinsically less reliable. It lost power after take-off.
"There are all sorts of inferences out there and I can't prove otherwise.
"But there isn't an airline in the country that hasn't had safety problems.
Could it happen again?
"Of course. That's why we have to be so careful," Van der Molen said. "But it's important to note that a scheduled service is much easier to manage."
Of the South Sudan crash, Van der Molen said the plane had been leased to a third party and the contract did not include maintenance or crewing by his company.
"The plane was operated to their standards, not ours," he said. "We simply supplied equipment and peripherals and operated according to their demands."
CemAir complies with all aviation safety standards and regulations, Van der Molen said, including 'Shell' (Federal Aviation Administration regulations), Australian certification requirements and the Basic Aviation Risk Standard program (BARS).
sue@grocotts.co.za
