Aviation Africa: Jetcraft Commercial eyes regional aircraft sales growth

“We have sold quite a few Dash 8 Q400s that one way or another have found their way into the African market, as well as at least two CRJ 200s. We’re also leasing aircraft to our African customers,” Haddad told African Aerospace.

“The opportunities we see in Africa are tremendous, particularly for turboprop regional aircraft such as the Dash 8 and the ATR72-500,” he continued.

Access to finance is one of the big challenges, with Haddad citing that while some companies are very credit worthy, others that want to acquire aircraft struggle to secure funding. “Any customer no matter where they are based has to have a robust business plan with financial statements. But there are African lending institutions to help with this. Two of the main ones we direct customers to are here in South Africa because they have a mandate to support funding African airlines.”   

Haddad also noted that in terms of regions, Jetcraft Commercial is seeing increasing demand in East Africa, South Africa, as well as West Africa, predominantly Nigeria. “Although the challenge with the latter is the issue of blocked funding.”

Looking ahead, Jetcraft will continue to focus on growing its presence on the African continent. “It offers an excellent market for secondhand aircraft. There’s strong demand for narrowbodies. We just need to overcome the challenge of supply chain issues.”