South African business aviation services company National Airways (NAC) expects to announce its first sale of a Gulfstream business jet by the end of the year, after taking over the distributorship in February. The deal will boost the Lanseria, Johannesburg-based Company's plans to expand its distributorships for business and general aviation manufacturers, writes Justin Wastnage.
NAC added the Gulfstream African distributorship to its Bell Helicopter, Raytheon Aircraft and Robinson Helicopters portfolio after the Savannah, Georgia-based airframer ended its co-operation with a local private venture. This was established to tender for the South African air force's VIP requirement, which was subsequently won by Boeing Business Jets, says NAC chief executive Martin Banner.
Banner says there are active campaigns for Gulfstream aircraft in Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Gabon, Kenya and Nigeria as well as South Africa, one of which he expects to be completed by year-end. The company expects most sales to come from the long-range aircraft, with three or four aircraft sales a year in Africa, but southern African customers could also buy the Gulfstream G150 and G200 light jets, he adds.
NAC decided to approach Gulfstream after seeing several of its customers leave for Lanseria neighbour ExecuJet because NAC did not offer a long-range trade-up aircraft for Raytheon customers. Banner says: "We have a 'customer for life' philosophy and so we obviously had a gap by not having intercontinental jets." The company was recently appointed African distributor for SMA diesel-cycle engines, which Banner says represents a big opportunity due to the poor availability and inconsistent quality of AvGas at some remote air strips.
Source: Flight International