THE SA travel industry has
welcomed the appointment of
Janaurieu D’SA as Iata’s new
area manager for Southern Africa
from next month, saying it will bring
much-awaited relief to the strained
relationships between the trade in
South Africa and Iata.
Since Iata moved its headquarters
to Amman, Jordan, SA travel agents
have struggled against Iata’s
bureaucratic stance, which has led
to numerous defaults for SA travel
agencies.
Jan will be based at Iata’s
Johannesburg ofce. He returns
to South Africa, having been
SA’s country manager between
2008 and 2010. Before that, he
served Iata in Johannesburg as
regional co-ordinator and regional
manager for safety operations and
infrastructure from 2005.
The appointment of Jan is seen
as a big step from Iata to improve
the relationships with the trade in
South Africa. Franz Von Wielligh, gm
of Flight Specials, says: “I think it is
of the utmost importance that Iata
has representation in the country.
It has been close to a nightmare
the past few years in dealing with
and getting information from Iata.
The biggest advantage in having Jan
here is having a central contact and
communication point with someone
who understands the local market.”
Dinesh Naidoo, group operations
director of Serendipity Tours, agrees,
saying Jan is undoubtedly the
right man for the job as he has an
extensive knowledge of the South
African market. “I am very glad to
see that Jan has been appointed
SA’s country manager. I know he
knows the SA market well. Because
of his years of experience in the
market, he is a great choice.”
The rst point of action for Jan will
be to try and nd a solution for the
default problems that have haunted
South African travel agencies over
the past few years, says Rod Rutter,
coo of XL Travel. Secondly, he will
have to look into the appointment of
an insurance company for a bonding
scheme to protect SA travel agents
and, thirdly, work on improving
the relations between Iata’s hubs
in Johannesburg, Nairobi and
Hamman, Rod says.
Otto de Vries, ceo of Asata, says
that payment and settlement issues
are at the top of the agenda for
the new country manager. Along
with some of SA’s top industry
players, Asata recently met with
Jan in Johannesburg to discuss the
concerns and challenges the travel
industry faces in the day-to-day
dealing with the Amman hub.
Otto says the focus of the
discussions was on technical
defaults and how Iata handles
these in relation to the resolutions
governing them. “Usually the
defaults are actioned due to
payment anomalies or errors. Asata
and Iata are working on how to
address these anomalies
in a constructive manner
before agents are placed
into technical default.”
Otto adds that Asata will
be establishing a Member
Advisory Forum that will
provide potential solutions
to Iata for consideration.
Claude Vankeirsbilck,
chief sales and marketing
ofcer for Tourvest Travel
Services, agrees and says
Tourvest is condent that
Jan will play a key role in
dealing with these issues.
“This appointment is long
awaited and I believe
comes from the pressure
we have put on Iata both as
Tourvest and as Asata.”
Jan is currently Iata’s
assistant director of
industry distribution and
nancial services for
the Africa and Middle
East region, managing a
50-strong team responsible
for industry settlement
systems. He is based in
Amman, Jordan.
Jan will be reporting
to Raphael Kuuchi, who
ofcially took up the
position as Iata’s vp for
Africa on March 4.
Raphael now leads a
team of 23 air transport
professionals in Iata’s four
sub-Saharan ofces.
He will divide his time
between the ofces in
Johannesburg, Nairobi,
Lagos and Dakar.
