South African Airlink - What are their future plans?
 

I'm interested to know about the future of civil aviation in southern Africa. I noticed that South African Airlink have committed to an order of 30 Embraer 135 aircraft and their website doesn't state that they will be a replacement for the Jetsreams. Surely this is a huge increase in the fleet even if they did scrap the Jetstreams so is the future rosey and surely they will need people to fly them?

Just out of interest does any one know the salaries of a junior F/O could expect to earn with SA Airlink on either the Jetsream or the EMB 135?

Um on the link issue they are expending i heard they are also moving some flights to grand central casue they are not getting slot times at FAJS requriements for link I think is 200 ME time not sure about how much turbine at the moment they are not looking but how knows in the new year and pay well they guys i know there are not doing to bad but don't expect too much money

Hi guys,

Airlink does indeed have big plans. I have the privilege of working for them on the ERJ-135.

Their main plan of action is to forge strategic alliances with carriers in various African countries. An example of such is a recent alliance with a company called Flywell in Zimbabwe(soon to be called Airlink Zimbabwe). This allows Link access to various routes, that they would not otherwise be able to operate.

The ERJ project is an expansion plan and I think will ultimately take over the J41's I believe the J41 are to be phased out over a 7 year period starting in about 2 years time.

Some of this is conjecture based on rumours floating around the company, but a lot of it is also fact.

Airlink did have plans to operate from Grand Central, not because of lack of slots(this is not Heathrow), but because they wanted to fly direct to Cape Town, which would have been in direct competition to SAA. The idea of GC-CT would have been aimed at a niche market.Unfortunately our National Carrier thought that this might well succeed and that would of course impact on their profitibility. Since SAA already feels bad enough about costing the taxpayer R2 million per day, they prevented Link from doing it.

In terms of experience requirements for Link - it varies, depending on the operational requirements of the day. Sometimes they are looking for guys suitable for quick promotion to command(J41). They will then take guys with say 2500 hours. Other times they may need guys that can just do the FO's job and not cost too much - then they will take lesser experienced guys. So requirements vary, It would be safe to say that a guys must have at least a Comm + Multi + IF rating before even applying. Please note I do not speak for the Chief Pilot - this is merely my observations.

The pay is not good and they make no bones about it. Lets face it the guys are not here for the money, and I don't think better pay will reduce pilot turnover. Airlink are here to make a profit and that is what they will tell you on the first day. You will be paid more working for SAX, but then they sponge off the taxpayer the same way that SAA does. Airlink is a privately owned company. SAA does own a 10% share, but they do not subsidise us in any way.

Well to answer the question, a Junior First Officer earns about R9400 per month(the company does not contribute to medical aid or provident fund ie it all comes out of your pay)

When you reach 2000 hours(I am not sure if you need an ALTP) you the become a First Officer and earn about R12800 per month. By the way, the equivalent at SAX earns about R17500.

Anyway, I hope this fill you guys in. The ERJ is great to fly and I love every minute of it. The future does look good, if they can pull their plans off.

Just to put that in context for UK readers: junior FOs earn around £600 per month and FOs £800 per month. Out of those sums comes medical fund, provident and tax, which comes to around 50 - 60%.

Rumour has it you can buy a medium sized Free State town for the same price as a semi in Dulwich! :D :D :D

Beer is 40p a pint.

With the Euro aviation market the way it is at the moment 600-800 pounds sounds better than squat to fly EMB135/J41 for a nice domestic airline....
:rolleyes:

4g-handicap: Could you possibly tell me how the ERJ is sizing up to SAX's CRJ? In particular maintenance and the African conditions. (Hot 'n high etc.)

The Claw,

Only with pleasure - however, remember that I am biased.

The ERJ is an awesome aircraft, in particular the 135 that we fly. It has big engines, so performance is excellent and it leaves the CRJ looking like it is looking for parking. Also the EFIS is way ahead of the CRJ - in fact, I climbed into the CRJ the other day and my impression was cramped cockpit and the "Glass Cockpit" looks like a retrofit.

As to performance, to give you an idea :-

we can takeoff out of Johannesburg Int Airport(5500' elev) on a 35 deg C day at structural TO weight - then climb staright to service ceiling in under 20 min. :D :D :D
Unfortunately between 35 deg C and the operating limit of ISA+35(39 Deg C), we do have to condider WAT limits, probably losing upto 700kgs(MTOW 19990 kg)

The CRJ have had some misfortune with their engines - when they got the a/c they changed the engine compters to give better hot 'n high performance and in doing so managed to seriously damage the engines, to the extent that they now really have to mollycoddle them.

To compare, out of Cape Town, if they were to takeoff ahead of us by 2 minutes with 15 pax and we were to takeoff at Max TOW, we would be at FL370 before they made it to FL330. In fact I often hear them at FL280(Yuk thats where we would be if we had an engine failure)

Also out of Eros(a small airport in Windhoek, Namibia), which has a 2000m runway and also at 5500' elev, we can take a full load(37 pax) to Cape Town(2 hrs flying time), with reserves for Port Elizabeth(about 1 h 10). With that load we would probably do a reduced thrust takeoff out of Eros, depending on the actual figures of the day. :eek: :eek: :eek:
Of course the poor CRJ often has to reposition to Windhoek International because they can't carry their load. I would be lying to you if I said I knew what they can carry, but I know they struggle.

From a maintenance point of view I can't tell you much, except that the aircraft are brand new(I flew one with 30 hours on it the other day), so they are still under warranty. Any major problems are therefore for Embraer to sort out. The aircraft is very modular ie just about anything can be sorted out by changing a particular "black box" This make for good reliability. There have been 1 or 2 occasions where the required spare was not in stock and this has kept the aircraft grounded for 24 hours or so. I think that as we get more aircraft, so we will be building up more stocks. Also I think Airlink has some deal with Embraer where the maintenance is paid for by the hour(Power by the Hour), which reduces the risk of problems. In fact we have a store, with complete engines in it, that belongs to Rolls Royce)

Anyway, I hope that helps - it really is a nice plane to fly - it is a nice simple aeroplane and very easy to fly. It is also the right aeroplane for Africa with those big engines. However, time will tell.

Regards
:)

4g_handicap:- Many thanks for your input. At the time of the SAX choice of aircraft many people thought that the ERJ was a better choice. I was just curious to see if the ERJ was holding up to these expectations! (Not forgeting the SAAB, which was another favourite) :p

The CLaw,

Another thought is the cost of the aircraft. I dunno what the CRJ cost, but I am led to believe that US$ 11 million that we are paying per ERJ is quite cheap.

So far we have only been operating for about 8 months, so it is still early days.

Regards
:cool:

Thanks guys for your interesting replies to my original questions. I guess I feel left out given the biggest aircraft I have flown so far is a Cherokee six!

It would be interesting to hear what people think of the Jetsreams. Back in the UK a good friend of mine is a Type Rating Examiner on the Jetstream, based at Woodford near Manchester. He thinks they're excellent to fly.

Anyway once again thanks for the info.

Speedbird59, apologies for hijacking your thread.

4g ; During the early days of the CRJ, it was not doing so well! As for costs, there was a lot of behind the scenes fiddling so one doesn't really know the true price that SAX paid. In my opinion, they are still "paying" the price. :mad:

Hi guys,

Yes - sorry speedbird59, we have hijacked your thread, but I didn't think you would mind, since we are here to create discussion.

Also we have all been at your stage, so please don't feel left out - do you have aspirations for an aviation career, or is it a hobby?

To answer your question about J41 - I have never flown it, but I have flown in it and will gladly give my observations. It is a great performer - it certainly goes, and leaves the Dash-8(SAX again) standing. They TAS at about 280 knots. Also the water meths injection(not standard on a J41, but we have 3 or 4 so equiped) gives it great short field performance. We use it at Nelspruit, which has a 900m runway & temperatures routinely hit 30 deg C

On the down side, BAe have put out a SB that reduces performance on J41 with props that have over 6000hours. This translates into a payload loss of just over 600kgs which is a lot on a 29 seat aircraft(this can be upto half the available pax load at times) Also another problem is the the J41 is the only aircraft that uses a certain model of Macauley prop. Since the J41 is no longer in production we cannot obtain any more props. This has seriously damaged the viability of the J41 in our operation, and I suspect that if BAe cannot come up with solutions, then the J41 may be on it's way out even faster than anticipated. :( :(

The Claw, I think you may be right about SAX, however at least one friend of mine that flies the CRJ claims that they are a valuable asset, since there is a big waiting list, and the rand/dollar exchange rate - blah, blah blah. I dunno if it's true.

Also, just to do a bit of rumour mongering. There is a strong possibility that SAX & Airlink will merge sometime next year. The experts are doing their homework and I think they will go ahead if they can iron out all the potential problems.

Regards :cool:

hi Guys

Don't for one minute think you've hijacked this thread. Thanks for your insider views which is something I'm really interested in.

On the subject of the ERJ I have heard from pilot mates in the UK lots of not so complimentry things said. Ironically its from people who don't fly them. Having said that most operators over there fly the bigger 145, which I assume has the same engines as the smaller 135. Hence the performance is not as impressive.

From everything I have heard so far it seems the future is quite promising for Airlink. I sure hope the sinking rand doesn't eat too much into profitability. Perhaps in a years time when I have a frozen ATPL I could have a right hand seat on the Jetstream.......

Another question I have just thought of given I'm at the stage I'm at in my flying right now.

What is the view taken of newly qualified guys with say 400 hours who pay for their own type rating? I know it's been discussed very much in the Wannabees forum but that has a largely British perspective.

thanks again for your help

Speedbird59,

Your idea of paying for type rating is something that I think is quite big in USA - you often see adverts for flight schools there that offer a type rating on, say a Metroliner, with the opportunity to than build block hours on the aircraft at a reasonable rate. In other words you pay for the rating and then pay to fly the right seat for a company. They normaly advertise the rate at something like 100 hours for $89 per hour.

It is also an idea that is gaining momentum here in South Africa. At least 1 operator I know of will let you pay for a C208(Caravan) rating and then they send you into Africa to fly P2 for them(they don't make you pay for the hours though). Generally they will advance you the money and then deduct it from your salary over a 6 month period.

Some people in the industry don't like these kinds of operators because they feel it is exploitation. I am not sure this is the case though. Operators have the right to try and make a profit and recent changes to legislation in South Africa has made operators put co-pilots into a C208 or King Air(Any turbine for that matter). This means a considerable cost burden for no benefit(Safety benefits notwithstanding). The right seat on a turbine is a saleable commodity, so why not let the operator turn it to his advantage. I would have jumped at the opportunity 5 years ago.

Of course a company like Link would never consider a person paying for a type rating(they do have a training bond though, which you must pay back if you leave prematurely).

Anyway, Speedbird. I seem to recall reading in a thread somewhere that you are doing a PPL in Cape Town. Is that right. Maybe we should get together for a drink when I nightstop there.

Regards
:)

Oh yes, and on the issue of the ERJ. The 145, you are quite correct - it's performance is somewhat more sedate, but still a nice aeroplane.

The only downside to the ERJ's that I know of are they are slightly noisy due to lack of isulation, and they are prone to an irritating little dutch roll, which is only really noticable at the back, so it doesn't really bother the driver too much.

Regards
:rolleyes:

4g: The rumour of a SAX/Airlink merger has been going for years. Even when I was with SAX. Since SAX is essentially a political operation, I believe that you are correct, although I believe that it will quietly merge into SAA.(Maybe with parts sold to Airlink) I certainly don't see Airlink taking on "suspect" management at SAX. Once again my opinion!

SAX was looking at the ERJ-145.

Rgds, :eek: :eek:

The Claw,

Well, I have only been with Link a short while, so I cannot claim any great expertise, but the rumours seem to be hotting up. An outside consulting company has been appointed to research the matter and we have been told by management that they have to come up with the answers by the end of March. I suspect that Link & SAX will become one and will probably take over the whole domestic market(maybe using ERJ 170&190 :p ) with SAA doing just international routes(well thats what we hope for - we can dream).

I think there are going to be major problems with a merger, not the least being the differences in salary scales of the pilots.

What did you do at SAX?

Regards
:)

4g

Thanks again for your info. Your offer of a drink is very kind and I'd love to meet up at some point. Can I email you at the address in your profile to sort out at a time etc.

4g & The Claw

Something else I'd be interested to know is about the SAA cadets. Obviously I'm unable to apply for the scheme, given my pommie nationality but the SAA Pliots website states they serve and "internship" with SA Airlink or SAX. Just out if interest I wonder if either of you have flown with them and what you think the general standard of them is.

A local pilot friend of mine reckons they're all complete fools. Anyway again I can only rely on a second hand info, however one thing that perplexes me is why they train them over in Australia. Nothing against BAE systems in Adelaide but surely schools such as 43 should be up to the job of equipping local pilots with ATPLs shouldn't they???

4g: Very interesting, keep me posted! Politics run deep at SAX, going back to the demise of Flitestar(Now there is a can of worms!)

59; Having done my training with Jim Davis before 43(Thats the school, NOT the year!?), I agree that 43 should be more than capable. As for the SAA Cadets. I can only comment about the first couple of groups at SAX. Sure they lacked experience, but most of them where pretty good in my opinion. They certainly took a lot of stick from the ex-SAAF guys, but then one or two of the SAAF guys left a lot to desire. :rolleyes: