ATQ: So tell us a little bit about yourself, your name and background.

Thobi:  My name is Thobi Duma and I’m the Country Manager for South African Airways. I’ve been in Lagos since 2009, July 2009 so it’s almost two years and I’ve been in the travel industry since 1996. I started working for British Airways Company in South Africa. I’ve been in airlines, I’ve been in hospitality. We opened the first Sheraton in South Africa, I was part of that team and I’ve been in travel management. I worked with a travel management company, one of the biggest in South Africa before coming to back to Aviation and since I’ve been back to South African Airways, I’ve been based in Durban,

Thobi:  We always say we are an African Airline with global reach we want to bring the world to Africa and take Africa to the world. That’s one of the things that we focus on. Our strategy in the past few years has been to grow within the continent and that’s one of the things that has made our airline very successful, making sure that everyone within our continent, from home is comfortable first and can gain access to all the hubs that we in South African Airways fly to and focusing on the needs of every customer and understanding that each and every market is different. You find out that, when you get on the flight to India on South African Airways, you find out that the service there has been catered for the market in India. You see little things that are slightly different but it’s still very SAA.  In fact in each of the major markets, we try to do some adjustments as well when it comes to the services that are being offered in Nigeria, within the past two years, there has been some changes.

ATQ: Some airlines flaunt themselves as five star airlines, when you say SAA brand, what do I expect?

Thobi: When talking about perception that is what comes to the mind. We want people to think warmth; they must think somebody who is going to be welcoming. The same character, the same thing that we portray to the world about South Africa as a national carrier; that is what we try to carry on board as well. We want to welcome you and make sure that you feel welcome and at home wherever you are, because South Africans are very welcoming.  Our business varies, in some places we focus mainly on Corporate, like I said, we are a global airline. In some destinations, we focus on leisure, so we try to make sure that the product that we use on every destination caters for the market. Nigeria is mainly corporate (business travellers), in future we would like to see leisure as well, as in inbound (into Nigeria). Right now we do get leisure but majority of the time it’s outbound into Johannesburg and beyond. We have Capetown, Mauritius is a new favourite but we would like to see a bit more South Africans coming to explore what Nigeria has to offer and that’s what we are working towards.

ATQ: That’s good to hear from the Nigerian aspect of it. We would dwell on that later. As one of the leading International airline brands operating in Nigeria, how have you been able to maintain the brand standards and high value expected of you?

Thobi: I think it starts from our core, from our headquarters, from our CEO. Our CEO is really passionate about Africa and Nigeria. We’ve been here for 13years consistently and the support we have received, the welcome that we received here has made this place become our second home so what we try to do, as much as there are challenges, we try to adapt to people’s needs as they change, because people have changing needs. If you look at the needs of our customers a few years ago and compare it to now, there has been a change. In the past, you found out that there’s no other carrier that you could rely on and now fortunately there are more people on the route so you can cater to those needs.  We used the Boeing 747’s up until last year December, now we have an Airbus where you have your flip beds and business class. The needs change as the industry changes.  Then three years ago we flew four times a week, now we are now flying daily which is 7days a week. We usually use a small aircraft, the best aircraft which will give us the best quality and you know that you can spread the volume on the 7days and cater for all those people.

ATQ: So how well have you done in the Nigerian Market?

Thobi:  Nigeria has been very supportive of South African Airways and we are trying to make sure that we keep that loyalty and we don’t take advantage of the loyalty that has been shown to us and the hospitality given to us as an airline in the country. Like I said, we’ve been here for 13years consistently and the business has been going well with a lot of support and we have tried to change with the times and the recession but the most amazing thing, what I should highlight is that when the recession hit and travel numbers or passenger numbers were down globally, Nigerian passengers numbers went up which was a very wonderful thing. Of course the decision is that they were going to do more business and making sure that they go through whatever the situation was then and make more money, that’s what makes Nigeria so special to South African Airways.

ATQ: Some other foreign airlines talked about challenges, challenges of operating out of Lagos. What are the challenges that SAA has in maintaining your standards in Lagos and Nigeria?

Thobi: One thing you need to remember as an international carrier you have to adapt to the environment. SAA flies a number of destinations globally, in each and every place, as much as there might be what you call challenges, the moment you get into a place, you try and put yourself in that situation and see how you can best do your business and so adapt to the environment, comply. Because each and every country has its rules and you can’t expect everything to be done the same way in each and every country. There might be challenges but as soon as you actually make sure that you are working with the local authorities and understand exactly what is required of you, you get the best out of the country, out of the station, and I think that the challenges varnish. It’s all about adapting and then trying to comply.

ATQ: There is this complaint by most Nigerian government that international airlines that operate out of Nigeria don’t use the best equipments, services and cost in comparison to the other destinations they fly. How do you see that particular...?

Thobi:  (cuts in) Well, I can only speak for South African Airways like I just mentioned; the fleet we acquired last year.  Initially we focused on volume, on how much we can carry and used only the Boeing 747’s because we had no one working with us but now that we do have somebody else assisting on the route, we could do upgrade and focus now on the product, so like I said our strategy is to focus on Africa and improve quality in Africa and make sure that the service standards are the same with international standards. That’s our focus, South African Airways strategy for the next coming years, that’s why we got the Airbus and in September we are actually going to be getting one of the brand new aircrafts, SAA is already getting a new fleet, which would be coming to Nigeria in September. We are already using the Airbus; this is all in line with the strategy which we’ve had before. Like I said, the new Aircraft would be coming with a lot of technology, for example you’d be able to do a survey of the land, you don’t have to wait till there’s anything wrong, there’s a system that’s automated to help you do that. The menu is automated; you can watch more movies, more entertainment. We are also trying to cater for our business traveller; we are looking at how to take care of our people who are connecting further, I know that you have questions about growth and all of that but we are looking at a lot of potential areas where we can grow and cater for the entire Nigerian market maybe and not just focus on Lagos alone.

ATQ: So that accusation that foreign airlines use fake equipments for the Nigerian market does not hold water?

Thobi: That’s not true for South African Airways like I said; we just introduced the Airbus to make Nigerians have what we provide on other destinations. We are already using an Airbus right now.

ATQ:  BSP, Online sales, Travel agency relationship. How has it helped your sales?

Thobi: BSP has actually made it easier for the travel management companies to be able to cater for the passengers. We’ve also tried to make it easier for passengers as well. We’ve tried to use technology to make travel easier, there’s flysaa.com. We’ve actually seen our sales increase, online sales and to make sure it is completely viable, we’ve introduced the pay online option where you can do your booking online, immediately if you have internet banking, the prompt comes to your box online from our account and we email you your ticket so you don’t have to travel  to our office. One of the other things that we have also introduced to make it easier is the online check in. The only thing to worry about is how to take your bag. Unfortunately, we can’t pass the bags, in other places all you do..., what we’ve done internationally, there’s a place where you just drop your luggage. For Nigeria, we still have to have that check for the bag so basically you have to go through the security check, while your luggage goes through the check, so there’s still that check for bags but you don’t have to rush to be sure you’ve got your seats, you just have to take your bags and check in and travel. We just have that different option online; we make sure that it’s available. Technology is very well accepted and our people use it. We’ve also built an executive lounge at the airport where our customers can relax while they wait for their flight.

ATQ: Aviation fuel crisis, global, local, there’s even a case of illegal surcharge by some international airlines in Nigeria, fuel surcharge, which the committee would be addressing in the next one month.  How has SAA adapted to Aviation fuelling issues?

Thobi: Unfortunately the cost of that is huge but we are trying to communicate as much as possible. What we have to do is communicate to all our travel management companies, so they communicate to our customers. What we do is, when the price improves, we adjust our fares accordingly. 

ATQ: Because the case was that when the prices went down, the airlines in question did not adjust.

Thobi:  Again, I can only speak for South African Airways.

ATQ: Okay. May we know about the future plans for growth and expansion for SAA Nigeria?

Thobi:  Our future plan is going to Abuja, which is what we are looking at. We have the Lagos and Abuja connects. We just attended Tourism Indaba few days ago and our CEO spoke about that plan.  When people are coming to Abuja, usually on business, they don’t usually come on SAA because they don’t want to stopover in Lagos, so we are going to try and see how we can cater for that market and another thing is the connection, which has to do with our timings. We have to look at our timing, our scheduling so that people can get better connections going to Abuja from Lagos. Besides, what we are trying to do is to introduce the Nigerian market, to new destinations flown by SAA, maybe people haven’t really known the value of travelling to those destinations. What we are doing is we are selling some new packages to help people tour South Africa and also teach people. Like I mentioned earlier, a place like Mauritius, people have found a new place where they can go and play and this might lead to other eye opening destinations than Mauritius. We’ve also seen a lot of people passing through Victoria falls, all these places as much as they are wonderful and peaceful, if the person still gets a chance to stop over in South Africa for a day or two of shopping and enjoy themselves before they come back home. And of course our baggage allowance, we have actually increased it, 60kg for economy class and 90kilos for business class which is very good for all our passengers 

ATQ: (Interjects) the best

Thobi: Exactly and of course it caters for all our traders and markets, for me, we are one of the best supporters when it comes to the Sao Paulo route, the Nigeria traders usually go via Emirates but we now provide the same services for them and we go biennially to visit all our of Nigerian business customers which they don’t get easily from other  airlines but then it’s part of our goal; to go the extra mile, see where your customer is make sure that they understand that you value their business and we do that every six months; biennially.

ATQ: Okay, what do you think is the future of the aviation industry in Nigeria? We have Airport government, we have Policy issues, how do you see the future?

Thobi: If you look at the opportunities available in Nigeria, when any airline needs to grow and they look at Africa, the first place that they look at is Nigeria. That should tell you something about the market. That it is growing, people see it in a positive light, I think it’s still communication with the authorities and sharing of information for the industry to get better and  making sure that we, I mean that our taxes are improved. If there’s a plan, I mean the new airports are coming up. There’s  already a local airport with the best amenities coming up in Nigeria and you know that the industry is going in the direction of growth 

ATQ: The other question is personal. Have you taken pepper soup? (General laughter

Thobi: Yes

ATQ: Okay. For an all expense paid trip, where would you go to?