Times Of Swaziland: HOW ESWATINI AIR RENTED PLANE FOR OVER ONE MONTH

HOW ESWATINI AIR RENTED PLANE FOR OVER ONE MONTH
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Stanley Khumalo on 14/08/2023 08:34:00


MANZINI – Eswatini Air had to rent an airplane for over a month when launching
its new routes for an undisclosed amount.
The routes are King Mswati III International Airport to Cape Town and Durban,
South Africa (SA). Also, the route to Harare, Zimbabwe was introduced by the
airliner. According to Monach Air Group, chartering an Embraer ERJ 145 private
jet costs between US$6 000 (E113 302.02) and US$9 000 (E169 953.03) per hour.
Also, America-based Paramount Business Jets lists regional chartering of the
same plane to be about US$8 700 (E164 287.93) per hour.  The rates were
converted into the local currency as per yesterday exchange rate of US$1 being
equivalent to E18.88. Eswatini Air revived Eswatini’s national airline, after
it had been dormant for almost three decades. In reviving the national airliner,
government approved that the Royal Eswatini National Airways Corporation (RENAC)
- a Category A public enterprise, procure two aircraft, which are operated under
its business unit, Eswatini Air.
Regional
The two aircraft bought by RENAC were not new as they were previously owned by
Air France – Hop, which is a full service regional airline for France. The two
aircraft bought by Eswatini were the Embraer ERJ-145 and each has a carrying
capacity of 50 passengers. The aircraft were bought for a combined price of
US$3.1 million, which is about E47.43 million.
The national airliner had its maiden flight to O.R. Tambo International Airport
from King Mswati III International Airport on March 26, 2023. This route was
serviced by the airliner seven days a week, upon inception. Initially, there
were two flights (morning and evening) on this route, which on May 5, 2023, had
an additional afternoon trip for four days per week.
Thereon, the airliner, in a phased-in approach, introduced its routes to Cape
Town and Durban, SA. Also, the route to Harare, Zimbabwe was introduced by the
airliner. The Durban route operates seven days a week, in the morning and
evening, while the Cape Town trip has three trips per week. The trip to Harare
had the number of trips as that to Cape Town.
It has been gathered that during the introduction of the Cape Town, Durban, SA
and Harare, Zimbabwe routes, that the Eswatini Air had to rent an airplane for
over a month. According to sources, the aircraft had to be rented as it would
have been impossible to service all the four routes with one aircraft, as the
other had been experiencing challenges. The sources said the second aircraft had
been away for almost two months now. They claimed that this had resulted in
Eswatini Air having to limit its trips on the Cape Town, Durban and Harare
routes.
According to sources, there were suggestions that for Eswatini Air to continue
delivering the required services, the aircraft that has not been operating in
the months should be sold. In fact, sources claimed that the national airliner
at instances had to rent other airplanes when the Embraer ERJ-145 currently
servicing all the routes needed to be attended to.
RENAC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Qiniso Dhlamini confirmed that Eswatini Air
had rented an airplane for a month. Dhlamini said the aircraft, which was rented
during the month of May, had to assist the national airliner introduce the new
routes. He explained that the aircraft had a scheduled major service known as a
c-check, which is conducted every two years.
Dhlamini said that both planes were bought at 30 000 hours, which were half
their life and they still had had over 10 years. As such, he dismissed the
notion that the airplane currently having a major service should be sold. He
explained that an Embraer ERJ-145 aircraft had a lifespan of over 60 000 hours,
which also did not mean that upon reaching those hours it should be sold but
instead, it became expensive to keep it just as it is the same case with
vehicles.
Market
“One of our planes was being attended to and we had to rent an airplane to
introduce our new routes. This is because we had already sold tickets and had to
establish the market in the routes,” Dhlamini said. He explained that this was
necessary for Eswatini Air as it had to establish credibility in the market
following a long period of absence of an Eswatini airliner.
The CEO further said the airplane which had been rented had been returned to the
supplier. He also acknowledged that Eswatini Air was at instances forced to rent
an airplane for a day or two when the Embraer ERJ-145 currently servicing all
the routes needed to be attended to. This, he said, was normal in the aviation
industry as an airline may urgently need to be attended to in order to ensure
smooth travelling for clients.
On the other hand, Dhlamini said Eswatini Air had availed cheaper tickets for
travellers. He said they were expected to be more viability and
sustainability-driven than a profit-driven airline, because they were considered
a service, yet they were exposed to all the pressures of sustaining service in a
high-cost operating environment.