Adieu, de Izy
ADMIRED and respected travel
and airline industry icon,
Izy Etkin, died on December
21, 2016.
Izy, who’d been diagnosed
with melanoma in July 2016,
died of a heart attack.
He was born in the Belgian
Congo (DRC) on April 21,
1941 to a Spanish mother
and a father of Russian
extraction.
He joined the travel industry
after Sabena approached him
to be its SA regional manager
in 1979. His great love of
people and his experience of
leaving home and joining the
army, which he said “helped
open my mind,” meant the
industry was a natural fit, says
wife and partner of 25 years,
Roselyne.
After 21 years of service with
Sabena, Izy joined Wings Travel
Management where he spent
the ensuing 14 years as the
director of supplier relations
and industry affairs.
After a very
successful career
with Wings, Izy
decided to open
a swimming pool
business in Ballito
with Roselyne
and her daughter
Sabine.
Izy was a true
romantic: after
a seven-year
courtship with
Roselyne he
whisked her to
Europe where the
pair wed in Rome.
Regarded as a mentor and
father figure by many travel
folk in SA, and a very dear
friend by others, Izy will be
missed.
“He was a wonderful man
who was highly respected
by everybody in the industry
from far and wide,” says Tony
Sofianos, ceo of Wings Travel
Management.
Mary Shilleto, ceo of
Thompsons Travel,
says: “Izy was
an incredible
entrepreneur and
colourful character
in the industry.”
Says Wilma
Van Vuuren
head of yield
management,
Wings Travel
Management:
“Joyce Meyer (the
author) said: ‘You
cannot have a
positive life and
a negative mind.’ This
resembles Mr Etkin – no
matter which cards life dealt
him he always played the
game well.”
He is survived by his wife,
his daughters in Australia
and Spain, his stepdaughter
and stepson, and his three
grandchildren and four stepgrandchildren.
Izy lost his
eldest son, Michael, in 1991
to cancer.
Fly well, Usman
FOUNDER and md of Flywell
Travel, Usman Ahmed,
died in the early hours of
December 24 in Cape Town
following a tough fight with
lymphoma.
Usman, 66, established
the XL Flywell Travel Group in
1967 with no formal training.
Over the years, he carved
out a niche market for the
business and grew Flywell to
one of the largest operators
to the Middle East, says his
brother, Aboobaker Ahmed,
md of XL Flywell Travel.
It was this passion that
not only helped Usman build
a successful business, but
also moved him to organise
charter aircraft from SA to
the Middle East before the
larger carriers entered the
market.
“His experience and
understanding of the
industry in South Africa
was widespread, he was a
pioneer in much that he did
and fearless in tackling new
opportunities,” says Rabih
Saab, Travelport president
and md MEA. To Rabih,
Usman started out as a
customer, but soon became
a dear friend.
“Believe me, he
most definitely
kept us on our
toes and his
knowledge of
Galileo was
extensive, doing
his own bookings
till the very
end. I will miss
Usman greatly
and extend my
sympathy to all
those who knew
him,” says Rabih.
“He was my
brother, he was
my father, he
was everything
to me,” says
Aboobaker.
Usman is
survived by
his wife and
daughter.
