FOUNDING ceo of
Mango Airlines, Nico
Bezuidenhout, says his
time away has allowed him
to see the airline with a fresh
outlook. “I want us to regain
our culture of innovation and I
am continually asking why we
do things in a certain way,” he
said, before sharing with TNW
some of the key areas that he
is planning to focus on.
“In the last three years
I have gained a greater
understanding of regional air
travel,” said Nico referring
to the time he spent as
ceo of fastjet. “While South
African consumers are spoilt
for choice with domestic
flights, there is no doubt
that certain routes in Africa,
and particularly in areas like
Mozambique, Namibia and
Zimbabwe, are underserved.
Mango has had some
success with regional routes
and our Zanzibar flights are
currently doing very well. As a
result, we are looking into the
possibility of adding selected
new regional routes.”
On the topic of interline, SPA
and codeshare agreements,
Nico said low-cost carriers
around the world were waking
up to the value of shared
networks and that some
traditional low-cost airlines
were reporting that up to 40%
of their traffic was now being
generated by interline and
codeshare agreements.
Nico said these network
agreements were on the
radar for Mango. “We need
to review our product to be
able to smoothly align with
full-service carriers. We are
working on a product evolution
that will include a better
cross-mapping for businessclass passengers.” He said
examples of these services
could include priority check-in,
preferred baggage allowances
and meal vouchers.
Nico explained that
technology was also
important for network growth.
“We developed our own
reservations platform when
the airline was launched in
2006 but we are reviewing
this system with an eye on
capabilities that would make it
easier for us to codeshare.”
He said he viewed the travel
trade, which has historically
contributed about 40% of
Mango’s revenue, as an
important distribution channel
and that he was aware of how
important SPA and codeshare
agreements were to this
channel. He said Mango’s
distribution through Travelport
and Amadeus was working
well and that he wanted to
co-operate closely with the
trade to grow sales further
through this channel.
Another key focus for Nico
is improving Mango’s on-time
performance. “Simply put
customers want an airline
to take them to the right
destination at the right time.
Despite the changes that
he plans to implement, his
management style remains
very hands on, with a strong
focus on customer service.
“My executive committee
team isn’t very happy with
me at the moment,” he
said, explaining that he had
insisted that the entire team
spend time assisting with
check-in and even serving
clients in-flight.
“We often expect our
front-end staff to be in the
firing line when customers
are unhappy with us, when
it is most important that our
management team have a
full understanding of what
is going on from the
ground up.
