INDABA 2015: Q&A with SAA's Marc Cavaliere

At INDABA, Africa’s largest travel trade show, PAX sat down with South African Airway’s North America Executive Vice President Marc Cavaliere to find out what the airline has in store for Canadian travellers, tour operators and agents. 

Q: Are you experiencing growth in the Canadian market?

A: Absolutely. The Canadian market is looking to explore more experiential destinations and families are more than ever wanting to see bucket list locations around the world. The cornucopia of experiences here in Africa is unbelievable, and I think that as technology allows us to make these journeys shorter and more direct, as pricing allows us to make these trips a lot more affordable, and as the simplicity of being able to put together packages for tour operators, travel agents and individuals - it becomes much more accessible, much more of a reality for people. This whole notion of being able to go off to Africa not so long ago was reserved for those that were financially fortunate – and now it’s a much more reasonable possibility.

Q: What advantages do Canadians have with SAA?

A: We have a wonderful codeshare agreement with Air Canada, our Star Alliance partner. It makes the connections and the journey that much more seamless for our Canadian visitors. That codeshare operates out of nine cities connecting SAA with New York, Washington, London, Frankfurt and Munich to Johannesburg and then we operate a very extensive network within Africa. In between SAA and our partners SA express and Airlink, we actually serve over 55 destinations in Africa, so the traveller can go from Canada all throughout South Africa using one carrier. We can now take that one step further with our Air Canada partners and fly right into the game lodges on their own landing strip. And don’t forget the great thing is the passenger can accumulate a lot of Aeroplan miles - 16,000 miles for a round trip shakes down to a lot of benefits and upgrades they can apply to other future flights with Air Canada and the Star Alliance group.

Q: How else do you compete for Canadian business?

A: I think it’s all about the experience. When you come to Africa, you want to experience Africa. Let’s start that experience the moment you step aboard the aircraft. Come and meet our in-flight team and experience the South African hospitality, the food, the music and entertainment. We’ve been flying for 82 years, and serving North America for over 45 years so we’re very experienced in the market. 

Q: Any plans for route expansion?

A: Our expansion at the moment is in Africa and focusing on offering more and more domestic routes from Johannesburg once you get there. We’re also looking at additional international gateways in emerging markets in North and South America. In terms of Canada, there will come a time; in the meantime, we continue to grow our relationship with Air Canada.

Q: What does that mean for Canadian travellers?

A: One of our primary roles as a national carrier is to grow tourism in our destinations; because of our relationship with Air Canada and the various promotions we do in Canada and the relationships we have with travel agents and tour operators promoting Southern Africa – that’s going to help build the traffic and eventually result in offering service from there.

Q: What new plans do you have for the Canadian travel trade industry?

A: One of the initiatives we do from a sales perspective, is that every year SAA hosts the Africa Showcase; it’s been our seventh year hosting it and it has been primarily in the U.S. We bring 25 to 30 suppliers from Africa, representing hotels, game lodges, tourism boards and organizations to meet one on one with travel agents and tour operators. This fall, we’re very pleased to bring the show to Canada for the first time; it will be in Toronto.

Q: Anything else on offer?

A: The summer sizzler!  Great deals for June 1 to Aug. 10 out of New York and Washington. We have a couple of tour operators that have taken that pricing and put together very economically priced packages. For those who haven’t made summer plans yet and can consider Africa at the last minute, it’s a tremendous value. Not to mention how affordable it is once you get to South Africa – the exchange rate of twelve to one on the dollar for dining, shopping and excursions is incredible.