THE travel industry is shocked
and saddened by the sudden
death of airline industry
stalwart, David James, at his
Johannesburg home on Sunday
morning, aged 62.
At the time of publication the
cause of death was pending
the result of a post mortem.
His funeral took place on
Friday, February 20 at the
Bryanston Catholic Church in
Sloane Street, Johannesburg.
David’s long career included
senior executive positions with
British Airways, Virgin Atlantic,
SAA and Eritrean Airlines and
many years of consulting to
African airlines, where he
specialised in turnaround
management, organisational
change and airline start-ups
“He had a wonderful sense of
humour and a generous heart.
He was very caring about other
people and loved his sports,
mainly cricket and rugby, and
music, golf and the bush. His
unexpected death has come as
a great shock to his wife, Trish,
and his many friends,” said
family friend, Lindy Nauta.
“In his words – and he did
have a way with words – he
was a ‘top bloke’,” said
Lilian Boyle, retired executive
director of Bidvest. “He had
a wonderful sense of humour,
richly coloured by his half-Irish
genes, was a great story-teller,
a genial and generous host
and always good company.
He was well respected in the
aviation world and his likeable
nature made him an excellent
networker. We had such
fun – on the golf course, in
the African bushveldt and just
sitting around a jar or two of
Scotland’s finest. I have lost a
very dear friend and my heart
goes out to Trish. He was
taken too soon.”
Jim Weighell, operations
director of GBTA Southern
Africa, said: “He was a very
clever man and inherently
understood the airline
business. He never took
himself too seriously. I will
miss him as a friend and the
industry has lost a local icon.”
“We will remember David
very fondly for his charismatic
personality and immense
kindness and his substantial
contribution to the SA travel
industry,” said BA commercial
manager, Sue Botes.
“He was well loved and
respected by his colleagues
during his time at Virgin
Atlantic,” said sales and
marketing manager, Liezl
Gericke. “Our condolences to
his family and those close to
him during this difficult time.”
David was born and educated
in London. At BA he was
regional cargo manager in the
Middle East and India from
1987-1989; sales manager in
India from 1989-1991; gm in
Spain and Portugal from 1991-
1994; and gm Southern Africa
from 1994-1996. He was
Virgin Atlantic’s gm SA from
1996-1998, before taking over
as vp global sales at SAA from
1998-2000. In 2012, he briefly
worked as commercial director
at Eritrean Airlines.
David also consulted to
the African airline industry,
as partner at David James &
Associates Airline Consulting
for the past two years and
as director at Aviation Global
Solutions from 2004-2012.
He was also director of client
relationships at Rennies Travel
between 2000 and 2004.
