Maureva a leading software and service solutions provider for the airline industry, has chosen Hi-Fly Marketing, the growing South African company specialising in technical services in the African aviation industry, as its commercial representative for its ALEXIS – Flight Scheduling & Crew Management solution for the Subsaharian African Region. Maureva's ALEXIS Flight Scheduling & Crew Management enables airlines to address the challenges of flight and crew scheduling as well as daily operations management while improving user efficiency and optimizing both aircraft and crew utilization through high level automation. This generates a substantial revenue improvement for airlines. ALEXIS Flight Scheduling & Crew Management has already been adopted by Air Austral, Air Vanuatu and most recently Air Zimbabwe. 

Operating in Africa since 2008, Hi-Fly Marketing is a South African based aviation services and consulting firm, with a vast knowledge on airlines operational software solutions. I have known and followed Hi-Fly Marketing development for many years and have witnessed their expertise and knowledge of the African market.

Hi-Fly Marketing was a natural choice when we started looking for a reliable partner to support our development for our new ALEXIS Solution in the region. We are pleased to start this collaboration with their expert team  – Romain Angella, Head of Business Development – Maureva. Both companies share a commitment to innovation and a combined vision for the future of the airline industry. This partnership aims to bring greater value to African airlines by delivering enhanced capabilities and operational efficiencies through a flexible and cost-efficient Flight Scheduling & Crew Management solution.  Maureva has proven that they are committed and able to be the partner we're looking for. Maureva’s expertise in developing airline software solution along with our aviation knowledge ensures that our offerings are always up to date with the latest regulations in the airline industry.We are looking forward to a successful and fruitful collaboration.  - Alexandra Guillot- CEO at Hi-Fly Marketing  

About Hi-FLY Marketing:

Operating in Africa since 2008, Hi-Fly Marketing is a South African based aviation services firm, with a particular focus on technology systems and engineering expertise for improving operational efficiency and safety.Hi-Fly Marketing provides consultancy and services to the aviation industry, specializing in helping clients in their business development through a range of strong representations of global leaders.Our services offering has been put together with our valuable partners. We all share the same professional views and ethic in business. We encourage collective effort in the industry and believe that is the only way to move the entire industry forward to the highest level of safety standards and best practises.

Our specific objectives:

• Strengthen the capital base of African carriers through strategic partnership
• Optimise the fleet choice, maintenance and usage• Build up IT structures adapted to local requirements and to global standard
• Increase efficiency, organisation and make airlines competitive 

More information on: www.hiflymarketing.com  

About Maureva

Maureva is a leading software and service solutions provider for the airline industry. With more than 20 years’ experience, we are specialized in the field of airline revenue accounting and business intelligence.By keeping a strong focus on the uniqueness of each of our client airline, we ensure that our solutions provide the right level of adaptation to integrate specific business requirements while always adhering to industry standards, in order to deliver efficiency levels above standards.As an IATA strategic partner in both Airline Revenue Accounting and ONE Order program, we are proud to serve this industry and more than forty prestigious Airline companies stretching all over the five continents, and to enable them to strengthen their competitive advantage, to lower their costs and to gain easy access to comprehensive insight analytics. 

More info: www.maureva.com

ERP SOLUTION IMPLEMENTATION CAN BE PERCEIVED AS PAINFULLY DISRUPTIVE FOR ORGANISATIONS. ADSOFTWARE APPOINTED INGRID GERPHAGNON TO OVERCOME THE TRANSITION PROCESS.  

After graduating from the prestigious ESTACA* Engineering School in 2012, Ingrid Gerphagnon started her career with Heli-Union, a French Helicopter Operator, specializing in offshore activities. Working with their CAMO** department, she joined the team responsible for the implementation of a new ERP, AIRPACK, developed and commercialized by ADSoftware.  

Assigned to the supervision of their data migration and team training, Ingrid quickly acquired strong knowledge in ADSoftware solutions. More importantly, this debut assignment enabled her to identify a number of important considerations for the successful delivery of a systems change program and the achievement of business benefit. “Maintaining a constant communication and managing business changes are central to successful delivery. Combined with the right training, you have a good chance of delivering a positive outcome on such a project”, said Ingrid when asked to elaborate from her own experience with Heli-Union.   

“Assessing the organisation’s readiness for change is an important part of pitching the training correctly. Sometimes you are pushing at an open door, other times the business is very change-averse. Forcing people to step away from their comfort zone can become a source of stress.  If this is the case, it is important to find out the reasons. The effects on jobs may be the main concern. It may even be that middle management is unconvinced about the need for change.”, she added.  

The identification of the supporters within the organisation can be a vital support in promoting the system and the changes it will entail. The role of the implementation team is to also involve the “unconvinced” in the development of the solution, give them opportunities to learn about the project and show them how the new solution will make their life easier.  

Once all these challenges are surmounted, ADSoftware then agrees with the client on a launch date of the solution. Ingrid’s last responsibility is to ensure that all the relevant staff have acquired the necessary skills to operate the system before she can hand over the client to the ADSoftware Support Team. Ingrid is currently supervising the implementation of AIRPACK modules with several clients located in Europe and Africa.  

Frédéric Ulrich, CEO of ADSoftware, met Ingrid Gerphagnon while teaching at the ESTACA Engineering School. “Teaching at this prestigious school is felt as an honour. I have also the privilege of meeting the future talents of our industry. Ingrid revealed herself to be one of the most promising student of her class”, he commented. “Ingrid’s role in the successful integration of AIRPACK with Heli-Union made her the best candidate to fill the new position opened by ADSoftware earlier this year.  Combined with her expertise in helicopters while she worked on the maintenance of their fleet, Ingrid’s experience brings tremendous values to our company”    

*ESTACA: Aeronautic Aerospace Automotive Railway Engineering School
** CAMO: Continuing Airworthiness Management Organisations  

About ADSoftware  

ADSoftware is a seventeen-year-old IT company based in France, with offices in Thailand, Brazil and South Africa. Specialising in solutions dedicated to the aviation industry, ADSoftware counts 56 clients worldwide. The strength of ADSoftware is the accessibility of its products which are Microsoft Windows® ready, web-enabled, and multilingual. The company provides 24/7 online technical support.

The company has developed AIRPACK a modular ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) suite that includes six modules organised around a single database. Each module has its own specificities. AIRTIME is a dedicated tool for Fleet management & CAMO activities (Continuing Airworthiness Management Organisations), AIRSTOCK assist with Inventory control & Logistic, AIRDOC is the documentation management module, AIRUSER handles the security management, AIRSTAT allows reliability and statistic reports and AIRWORK time-tracking software.

ADSoftware has also developed DailyPack a package of two integrated modules, DailyReport and DailyQual, used by military, police and rescue flying operations. It is a solution dedicated to recording and managing all kinds of missions, and to follow-up on skills and qualifications of pilots and aircraft mechanics. The MRO software company recently introduced 4 new innovative mobile multiplatform apps to its flagship AIRPACK suite.

In January 2015, ADSoftware was nominated as a Finalist in the Air Transport News 2015 Awards as IT Company of the year. In February 2015, ADSoftware was selected for the second time as a finalist in the European IT & Software Excellence Awards 2015. The company was shortlisted in the SME Solution of the Year category.  

Visit http://www.adsoftware.fr/ for more information.
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Hi-Fly Marketing, the South African based aviation services firm has strengthened its corporate team with the appointment of Christobal Henner as General Manager responsible for strategic business development and key account management.  

This appointment is in response to Hi-Fly Marketing’s growing presence in Africa. Operating since 2008, Hi-Fly Marketing has been gradually increasing its footprint on the continent, offering a variety of customised products and services to airlines, aircraft and helicopter operators, CAMO, MRO and AMO organisations requiring specialist engineering and technical expertise. Hi-Fly Marketing has enjoyed strong growth during the past 8 years thanks to the business opportunities it brings to its partners in this region. To date, the company has supported over 70 customers from English, French and Portuguese speaking countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. In order to accommodate the growth, the company needed to reinforce its customer relationship and business development strategy.

Based at the company’s offices in Cape Town, Christobal will spearhead Hi-Fly Marketing’s business development efforts with a focus on pursuing new business opportunities and reinforcing existing customer relationships. Christobal joins the company from SAFRAN Electronics & Defense in Dallas Texas, where he managed the Analysis Ground Station (AGS) global support for operators worldwide in addition to overseeing the sales of flight data management solutions to aircraft operators in both South and North America. Christobal started his career as the Sales Manager of Alyzair, the French pioneer in Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) service solutions. Under his direction the sales of the company took an international dimension and Alyzair became one of the leading FDM solutions on the market. Alyzair then joined Sagem (recently rebranded SAFRAN Electronics & Defense) and Christobal took the position of Sales Manager for Europe of both the Flight Data solutions (hardware and software) and the MRO services.

Announcing Christobal’s appointment, Hi-Fly Marketing’s CEO, Alexandra Guillot said, “I am very pleased to have a person of Christobal’s calibre joining our team. Christobal is very experienced, pragmatic, driven and he knows how to think “out of the box” to succeed with any assignment. His vast experience in sales in the aviation services sector coupled with his multi lingual skills will help us get closer to our customers and better address their unique needs.”  

Commenting on his new role, Christobal Henner, said, “I am thrilled to bring the best of my knowledge and determination to the strong and growing business of Hi-Fly Marketing. The combination of a fantastic team and renowned partners enables us to push state-of-the-art solutions in the Sub-Saharan aviation industry.”            

About Hi-Fly Marketing  

Operating in Africa since 2008, Hi-Fly Marketing is a South African based aviation services firm, with a particular focus on aviation technology systems, engineering expertise and training for improving operational efficiency and safety. Through a range of strong representations of global leaders in aviation services, Hi-Fly Marketing assists clients in the African aviation industry to achieve maximum efficiency in their business operations. Hi-Fly Marketing’s objective is to provide an interface between clients in Africa and the global aviation industry by offering a variety of customised services to airlines, aircraft and helicopters operators, CAMO, MRO and AMO organisations needing specialist technical expertise at a competitive price.   Backed by an extensive network of industry contacts and technical partnerships, Hi-Fly Marketing represents a number of global aviation leaders which include ADSoftware, SAFRAN Electronics & Defense, NORDAM, Vector Aerospace France, and Litson & Associates.  

Visit www.hiflymarketing.com for more information.

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Cape Town, South Africa – South African flag carrier, South African Airways (SAA), announced the winners of its annual wine selection process at a prestigious banquet in Cape Town. The wine awards banquet is the culmination of SAA’s rigorous selection process which started in August.

For the 2015 SAA Wine Selection year, more than 800 wines were submitted by South African wine producers. A panel of the most distinguished, independent, local and international judges assessed the wines over a period of three days of blind tasting sessions.

“South Africa is ubiquitously known for its quality and diverse wine offering. It is not hard to imagine how challenging it was to arrive at naming the winning wines to be served to our esteemed passengers on-board SAA flights, marking the 29th anniversary of selecting the best-of-the-best wines for the airline. As SAA, we would like to congratulate and recognise the winners for their efforts and for the amazing quality of wines submitted,” says Bongi Sodladla, SAA Senior Food and Beverage Manager and Sommelier, who led the process.

The following entries received trophies for having the highest score across the board from all 11 judges:

White Wine of the Year

Winery:  Alvi's Drift Wines International
Wine Description:  Alvi's Drift Chardonnay 2013

Red Wine of the Year 

Winery:  Hartenberg Farm
Wine Description:  Hartenberg Shiraz 2010

Methode Cap Classic of the Year 

Winery:  KWV SA
Wine Description:  Laborie MCC Blanc de Blanc 2010

Port of the Year

Winery:  Boplaas Landgoed
Wine Description:  Boplaas Cape Tawny Vintner Show Reserve  N/V

Chief Executive Officer Award:  De Wetshof Estate Trust

Chairperson's Award:  Joy Wines

The judges for this year’s awards were:

Bongi Sodladla is SAA’s Group Sommelier and Global Food and Beverage Manager. She coordinates the SAA Wine Selection and Wine Awards for the airline and is a full-time member of the tasting panel. She graduated as the first black woman sommelier in 2010 through the Cape Wine Academy, and has since completed the Wine Evaluation Course run by Stellenbosch University’s Department of Viticulture and Oenology. She is also a tasting panel member for other wine competitions; for example, the Veritas Awards.   

Sandra Lotz has been the manager of Shiraz since 2008, and was previously CEO of Paarl Vintners for 12 years. She serves on the Wine and Spirit Board’s Paarl tasting panel and, in addition to SAA, also tastes for various wine competitions, such as SA Young Wines and the Veritas Awards.

Danielle le Roux graduated with a BSc in Viticulture & Oenology from the University of Stellenbosch. Thereafter, she set off to explore some of the world’s main wine regions, working vintages at Chateau de la Colline (France); Verité (California) and Terreno (Italy). She graduated as a Cape Wine Master in 2009, and serves on the tasting panels for Veritas, SA Young Wine Show and the Wine and Spirit Board. She contributes to WineLand’s tasting column, and is a qualified Pinotage judge.

Tatiana Marcetteau was born in the heart of the French wine region, Bordeaux. She is the Food and Beverages Manager and Sommelier at the Taj in Cape Town and has tasted on SAA in previous years.

Miguel Chan hails from Mauritius and is Group Sommelier for Southern Sun hotels, with overall responsibility for the group’s beverage and food standards. Miguel represented South Africa in 2007 at the Inaugural Concours International des Jeunes Sommeliers in Frankfort, where he reached the finals. He has been a taster for Platter’s South African Wine Guide, Old Mutual Wine Trophy and other competitions.

Gregory Mutambe is a sommelier at Azure Restaurant, at Twelve Apostles. His passion for food and wine is aptly demonstrated in the restaurant’s extensive wine list. He tastes for other competitions, among them the Best Value Wine guide and Platter’s South African Wine Guide.

Andrea Freeborough is Cellarmaster at Die Bergkelder. She is committed to ensuring that the successful winemaking team produces outstanding wines for both the premier Fleur du Cap Unfiltered and Bergkelder Selection tiers. In 2010, Andrea earned the title of South African Woman Winemaker of the Year, just one of the accolades that she has received during her tenure at Die Bergkelder.  

John Salvi is an English Master of Wine who has lived for the last 35 years in Bordeaux. The title of Master of Wine is the highest internationally recognised accolade for depth and breadth of wine knowledge. He is also an oenologist who studied under the famous Professor Peynaud at Bordeaux University.  

Petronella Salvi is South African by birth, French by residence. She is the managing director of Vino Fino Wine in Style. She has participated in a variety of prestigious wine-tasting competitions; for example, the Swiss International Wine Awards, the Michelangelo Awards and many others. She is also the member of Circle of Wine writers in the United Kingdom.  

Lyn Woodward works as a freelance food stylist, editor and wine commentator. In addition, to having worked at The Cape Wine Academy for seven years, Lyn has completed all of its wine courses—she achieved Cape Wine Master status in 2010.  

Nomonde Kubheka is Soweto-born but now a proud Capetonian who obtained her BSc Agriculture degree in Viticulture & Oenology from the University of Stellenbosch. A former winemaker at KWV, Nomonde now works as a freelance facilitator for the Pinotage Youth Development Academy, which is based in Stellenbosch. She has tasted for other wine competitions, among them Diners Club Winemaker/Young Winemaker of the Year.  

The logistical process of the tasting is coordinated by Bennie Howard, well-known Cape Wine Master.

For any questions or queries, contact SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali +27 82 333 3880 | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

About South African Airways

South African Airways is a Star Alliance member that offers flights to 38 destinations worldwide. Domestically, SAA operates 544 flights a week between Johannesburg – Cape Town, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth. Regionally, SAA offers 24 destinations across the African continent and its international network creates links to all major continents from South Africa through 10 direct routes. In the regional category, SAA has received the Skytrax ‘Best Airline in Africa’ Award for 11 consecutive years.   

The new reciprocal agreement betweenSouth African Airways and Virgin Australia bring new benefits to frequent flyers on both airlines.  

Johannesburg, South Africa - 21 November 2014, South African Airways and Virgin Australia have today announced a reciprocal frequent flyer agreement giving Velocity Frequent Flyer and SAA Voyager members the ability to earn and redeem Points and be recognized across both airlines’ networks.

From early next year, Velocity members will be eligible to earn Velocity Points and Status Credits on all South African Airways flights and operated services, including Airlink and SA Express. In addition to this, SAA Voyager members will be able to earn Miles on all Virgin Australia operated services, including all domestic, short-haul and long-haul international flight routes. This means that Velocity members purchasing flight tickets for travel within Australia or to any of SAA’s route network’s destinations on an SAA flight will earn Velocity Points and Status Credits while SAA Voyager members will earn Points when purchasing airline tickets on any Virgin Australia flight.

Velocity members will be able to use their Points to purchase Reward Seats on all South African Airways operated services in either Economy or Business Class, while Voyager members can do the same across the entire Virgin Australia operated network in Economy, Premium Economy and Business Class. This applies to domestic, regional or international flights on each carrier.

Velocity Frequent Flyer Chief Executive Officer, Neil Thompson said: “This is an exciting extension of the bilateral codeshare agreement Virgin Australia launched with South African Airways in October this year.

“Having the ability to earn and redeem Points as well as enjoy a number of premium services like priority check-in, priority boarding and lounge access with South African Airways is an important benefit for our members.

“We continue to find innovative ways to reward our members and extending the ability to utilise Points on our growing international network is important to our most valued customers,” Mr Thompson said.

Executive SAA Customer Loyalty, Ms Suretha Cruse said: “South African Airways is delighted to build upon the strong relationship we have with Virgin Australia. We have had very positive feedback since code-sharing on Virgin Australia’s domestic network and this will only further enhance our customers’ experience.”

“We are very pleased to be able to offer our valued Voyager members with new mileage earning and redeeming opportunities when they fly on the Virgin Australia network, and look forward to welcome Velocity members on the award-winning services of SAA,” Ms Cruse said.

For more information, visit www.velocityfrequentflyer.com or www.flysaa.com.  

About  SAA

South African Airways is a Star Alliance member that offers flights to 38 destinations worldwide. Domestically, SAA operates 544 flights a week between Johannesburg – Cape Town, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth. Regionally SAA offers 24 destinations across the African continent and its international network creates links to all major continents from South Africa through 10 direct routes. In the regional category, SAA has received the Skytrax ‘Best Airline in Africa’ Award for 11 consecutive years.   

South African Airways announces new mileage earning opportunities for voyager members in North America. This is yet another passenger bonus that comes from the commercial partnership between SAA and JetBlue.  

Johannesburg, South Africa. November 2014 – South African Airways (SAA), Africa’s most awarded airline, has launched a new frequent flyer partnership with JetBlue Airways in North America. This new partnership will provide SAA’s Voyager members with expanded mileage earning opportunities.   

Effective immediately, Voyager members will be able to earn mileage credits on flights across JetBlue’s expansive network of destinations in the U.S.A, Caribbean, and Latin America. In addition to this, JetBlue’s TrueBlue members can earn TrueBlue points on SAA’s entire network of flights where SAA is the operating carrier. The two airlines plan to introduce a redemption programme for award travel for members of their respective frequent flyers during the first quarter of 2015.  

“South African Airways is delighted to build upon the successful commercial partnership that we established with JetBlue over five years ago, by offering enhanced benefits for both our customers through our respective frequent flyer programmes,” said Suretha Cruse, SAA Executive Customer Loyalty.  “We are pleased to offer our valued Voyager members new mileage earning opportunities when they fly SAA to New York or Washington, DC, and onto JetBlue destinations throughout their network and welcome JetBlue’s TrueBlue members on the award-winning services of SAA.”  

SAA operates the most flights between South Africa and the U.S.A , including daily flights to New York from its Johannesburg hub to New York-JFK International Airport and flights to Washington, DC-Dulles International Airport. Convenient onward connections are offered with JetBlue between New York and Washington, DC, and 86 destinations throughout their route network in the Americas. In Africa, SAA flights to New York from Johannesburg and from Johannesburg to Washington, DC connect with 24 cities throughout the African continent.  

“We are pleased to add a world-class airline like South African Airways to our loyalty programme.  Our TrueBlue members can now earn points when they fly on South African Airways’ flights from the U.S. or anywhere on their network.  We look forward to continuing to expand our partnership with SAA,” said Robin Hayes, President, JetBlue.  

As code share partners, SAA’s “SA” code is on JetBlue operated flights between New York and Washington, DC and 18 other cities in the U.S. This includes popular destinations such as, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Denver. Customers purchasing a code share itinerary will benefit from having a single ticket combining SAA and JetBlue operated flights, as well as the convenience of competitive pricing, one-stop check-in and through baggage transfer; with allowance of up to two free pieces of checked baggage.  

For more information on the South African Airways’ Voyager programme, visit www.flysaa.com.  

About South African Airways South African Airways is a Star Alliance member that offers flights to 38 destinations worldwide. Domestically, SAA operates 544 flights a week between Johannesburg – Cape Town, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth. Regionally SAA offers 24 destinations across the African continent and its international network creates links to all major continents from South Africa through 10 direct routes. In the regional category, SAA has received the Skytrax ‘Best Airline in Africa’ Award for 11 consecutive years.      

About JetBlue Airways JetBlue is New York's Hometown Airline™, and a leading carrier in Boston, Fort Lauderdale/ Hollywood, Los Angeles (Long Beach), Orlando, and San Juan. JetBlue carries more than 30 million customers a year to 86 cities in the U.S., Caribbean, and Latin America with an average of 800 daily flights. Flights to Curaçao will launch on December 2, 2014; subject to receipt of government approval. With JetBlue, all seats are assigned, all fares are one-way, an overnight stay is never required and the first checked bag is free (subject to weight and size limits and exceptions for itineraries including flights marketed or operated by other airlines). For more information please visit JetBlue.com.

South African Airways warns the public of fraudulent sites that give misleading information about SAA’s Cadet Pilot Development Programme and cabin crew recruitment process. We provide information on what people should be aware of.  

Johannesburg, South Africa – South African Airways (SAA) would like to advise the South African public that it has taken note of unofficial websites that purport to be SAA official websites. Those websites contain false and/or misleading information about SAA’s Cadet Pilot Development Programme and cabin crew recruitment process. 

SAA would like to clarify that it does not have any relationship whatsoever with those false channels (websites), nor the individuals behind them. Members of the public are advised to take caution and are encouraged to contact SAA telephonically in case they need to verify the official SAA electronic platforms that they should use.

A quick way of identifying these bogus sites is by looking out for a fee that is required to be paid to “secure an application, or to ensure that an applicant gets shortlisted’’. SAA never charges any fee during recruitment drives.  

Cadet Pilot applications

On 14 September 2014, SAA invited young South Africans who aspire to become pilots to send their applications for the 2014/2015 intake of SAA’s Cadet Pilot Programme. The advert was placed in some of the national weekend newspapers. In addition, the following official SAA electronic communication channels carried the advert: SAA website (flysaa.com), SAA’s Facebook page (FlySAA) and SAA’s Twitter account (@flysaa). The closing date for the submission of applications was 27 September 2014.

Due to the high demand, SAA decided to extend the closing date to 3 October 2014. That date has since passed and no further extensions have been granted.   

Unofficial websites

SAA views the fraudulent use of its corporate identity in a serious light. It is not only potentially harmful to the brand but poses a risk of exposing unsuspecting members of the public to the risk of having their personal information getting into the wrong hands.   Should the airline obtain reliable information about any persons behind this scam, SAA will not hesitate to take legal action.  

About SAA

South African Airways is a Star Alliance member that offers flights to 38 destinations worldwide. Domestically, SAA operates 544 flights a week between Johannesburg – Cape Town, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth. Regionally SAA offers 24 destinations across the African continent and its international network creates links to all major continents from South Africa through 10 direct routes. In the regional category, SAA has received the Skytrax ‘Best Airline in Africa’ Award for 11 consecutive years.

Pretoria, South Africa – South African Airways (SAA) has established itself as a premier service provider of domestic flights, flights from South Africa to all major international destinations and also flights to South Africa from most main airports around the world. Now, in an effort to inspire aspiring children in underprivileged communities to strive towards careers in the aviation industry, the airline has partnered with Boeing, one of the world's largest aerospace companies. On the 19th of September, these two companies unveiled a Boeing 737-800 aircraft replica which will be visiting schools around the country as part of the SiVulindlela Aviation Awareness Project. This was unveiled during the Africa Aerospace Defence show at the Air Force Base in Waterkloof, Pretoria, with school learners in attendance.

The project, targeted at grade eight to 11 learners, aims to help them understand some aspects of the aviation industry including, among others, technical and piloting opportunities in this industry.

Boeing converted a new special purpose-built cargo container to resemble a Boeing 737-800 aircraft with near-complete functionality of a cockpit, cabin seats, storage cabins and a demonstration engine. The replica also has a plasma TV and iPad functionality mimicking the external view from a cockpit and the digital operation of an aircraft.  

“As SAA, we are fully committed to opening doors for young women and men to explore other career options in the aviation industry. For many, this sector is far removed from their realities due to socio-economic circumstances, but we believe that if we plant this seed today, many will cherish and rise above any limitations to pursue their interest in the aviation space,” says SAA CEO, Mr Monwabisi Kalawe.

This mobile exhibition will be used to raise awareness about aircraft and career options available in this space especially in remote communities around South Africa where many people have never seen the inside of an aeroplane. The experience with the aircraft model will provide practical exposure to all the aspects of operating an aircraft. Pilots, technicians and cabin crew members will be conducting tutorials to help learners gain insight about the industry. Participating schools will be supplied with relevant reading materials and videos.  

“The aviation industry plays a crucial role in the movement of passengers and cargo, facilitating cross-border trade and enhancing socio-economic standards across the African continent,” said J. Miguel Santos, vice president, Africa, Boeing International and sales director, Africa, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “Project SiVulindlela is an investment in the future development of young South Africans to inspire them to become the pilots, engineers, technicians and airline personnel of tomorrow,” concludes Santos. The Department of Basic Education will play a key role in identifying schools which will be visited during this nation-wide initiative.

About SAA South African Airways is a Star Alliance member that offers flights to 38 destinations worldwide. Domestically, SAA operates 544 flights a week between Johannesburg – Cape Town, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth. Regionally SAA offers 24 destinations across the African continent and its international network creates links to all major continents from South Africa through 10 direct routes. In the regional category, SAA has received the Skytrax ‘Best Airline in Africa’ Award for 11 consecutive years.

Johannesburg, South Africa – On the 21 August South African Airways (SAA) celebrated women’s month with a flight to Cape Town from Johannesburg. What set this flight apart from other domestic flights is that it was operated by an All-Female crew.

The rest of the flight preparations were also conducted by females. On board this flight of flights to Cape Town were SAA female executives, led by Ms Zukisa Ramasia, General Manager of Operations. Ms Ramasia is responsible for SAA’s overall global operations portfolio, which comprises SAA’s flight and cabin operations, airport operations, ground handling, lounges, on-board logistics and inventory, aviation safety and security, as well as SAA’s global operations control centre.

SA313 was captained by the airline’s first black female captain, Captain Kavistha Maharaj, with First Officer, Olga Bottger as the co-pilot. Looking after customers were cabin crew Purser Nomvuzo Mjanyelwa, Senior Cabin Crew Member Rene Essack, Cabin Crew Members Sonali Bissessor, Thilimbeli Mikosi and Michelle De Freitas.

Playing a key role in putting the flight together was Mathilda du Plessis, the Flight Dispatcher and Nwabisa Mbulaheni was the Operations Controller. The load controller was Nicole Mortimer and the Ramp Controller Lucia Mcpherson.

“We are extremely proud of the achievements of the women at SAA, where we are represented throughout the company, in leadership positions as well as in key operational areas which enables SAA to run smooth and on-time operations,” says Ramasia.

The All-Female operated flight is symbolic and a strong transformation indicator reflecting the airline's efforts to transcend the stereotypes and barriers of the past. These were manifest in the form of race and gender discrimination. Today SAA has women working as technicians, flight deck crew, cabin crew, and in key operational and support areas throughout the SAA Group.

At present SAA women make up 38.96% of all staff, (24.85% general staff; 0.83% cockpit crew and 13.29% cabin crew).   

About SAA

South African Airways is a Star Alliance member that offers flights to 38 destinations worldwide. Domestically, SAA operates 544 flights a week between Johannesburg – Cape Town, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth. Regionally SAA offers 24 destinations across the African continent and its international network creates links to all major continents from South Africa through 10 direct routes. In the regional category, SAA has received the Skytrax ‘Best Airline in Africa’ Award for 11 consecutive years.                             

Cape Town, South Africa – Every year, South African Airways (SAA) convenes a panel of leading winemakers and sommeliers to choose the wines served on-board its aircraft in the coming 12 months. This year, the process began on 25 August and culminated in a media and industry briefing on 27 August at the Nederburg Wine Estate in Stellenbosch.

At the briefing, the panel of 12 judges reported back on the more than 800 wines they have tasted over the past two days, and answered questions.

“The annual wine selection is one of SAA’s most hallowed traditions and one that we—and the industry—take seriously. SAA is a showcase for South Africa on many fronts, not least of them our excellent local wines,” says Bongi Sodladla, SAA Senior Food & Beverage Manager and Sommelier, who leads the process. “The judges’ report-back acts as a ‘state of the wine nation’, and provides an opportunity to give an assessment of where our wine industry is at present.”

The judges’ selection of approximately 60 wines will be announced at an awards ceremony on 1 November 2014.

Aside from Sodladla herself, this year’s panel included eight women and four men—a gender division that reflects the fact that the selection process traditionally takes place in August, women’s month. This year, Sodladla secured a mix of wine-makers and sommeliers to gain the perfect balance between technical expertise and the pairing of food and wine.

Sodladla has also put together a panel with strong African roots, complemented by international expertise from the husband-and-wife team of John and Petronella Salvi, who are based in France. Petronella Salvi, however, was born in South Africa.

“All the judges are experts in the field and most have worked with us before. Experience is important because a wine’s characteristics are exaggerated at high altitudes, something that has to be part of the selection process,” Sodladla notes. “Pairing the right wines with the right food is an integral part of the travel experience on SAA.”

The logistical process of the tasting is coordinated by Bennie Howard, well-known Cape Wine Master. What is clear is that a flight ticket with SAA also includes a selection of the best vintages the Cape Winelands have to offer. 

About SAA

South African Airways is a Star Alliance member that offers flights to 38 destinations worldwide. Domestically, SAA operates 544 flights a week between Johannesburg – Cape Town, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth. Regionally SAA offers 24 destinations across the African continent and its international network creates links to all major continents from South Africa through 10 direct routes. In the regional category, SAA has received the Skytrax ‘Best Airline in Africa’ Award for 11 consecutive years.