wigstheone
Aug 4, 02, 8:02 pm
JOHANNESBURG -- Lying around this continent of dilapidated airports on dysfunctional airlines can take much time and patience. Andrew Mthembu, a South African mobile-telephone executive, has little of either.
So when Mr. Mthembu, the man leading the expansion of Vodacom, the cellular service provider, contemplates where his company will set up next, one question is never far from his mind: he wonders how often the new area is served by South African Airways, which the Official Airline Guide regards as the most reliable carrier in Africa. He just can't afford the troubles on other African airlines: Unannounced stops that turn a three-hour flight into a dawn-to-dusk excursion. Departure delays that stretch into days. Airline employees who couldn't care less.
"If South African doesn't fly there, I'd rather go charter," said Mr. Mthembu, deputy chief executive of Vodacom. Sometimes, he has had to do just that. He and his company's accountants are not the only ones unhappy about it.
Even as South African Airways has planted a sweeping footprint across southern Africa, establishing itself as the dominant airline, it knows that the mother lode awaits a bit farther north, in places like Nigeria, Congo and Angola.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/04/business/yourmoney/04WORL.html
So when Mr. Mthembu, the man leading the expansion of Vodacom, the cellular service provider, contemplates where his company will set up next, one question is never far from his mind: he wonders how often the new area is served by South African Airways, which the Official Airline Guide regards as the most reliable carrier in Africa. He just can't afford the troubles on other African airlines: Unannounced stops that turn a three-hour flight into a dawn-to-dusk excursion. Departure delays that stretch into days. Airline employees who couldn't care less.
"If South African doesn't fly there, I'd rather go charter," said Mr. Mthembu, deputy chief executive of Vodacom. Sometimes, he has had to do just that. He and his company's accountants are not the only ones unhappy about it.
Even as South African Airways has planted a sweeping footprint across southern Africa, establishing itself as the dominant airline, it knows that the mother lode awaits a bit farther north, in places like Nigeria, Congo and Angola.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/04/business/yourmoney/04WORL.html