In a candid discussion with Nalini Gupta, country manager, SAA, Raadia Mukadam discovers why, despite culmination of the cricket world cup, the cash register at this airline’s office has not stopped ringing

Besides raking in the moolah, how else has the world cup benefited SAA?
The world cup has been a brilliant platform for us to showcase our product and services. But most importantly, it has finally escalated South Africa to one of the most desired outbound destinations, today. Since my fate is directly linked to the fate of the destination, this has naturally proved beneficial for the airline. The most significant development is that while we always appealed to the classes, the world cup has also generated a lot of interest in the masses, creating additional demand for the product.

Has the war affected your sales adversely?
Lady luck has certainly been smiling down on SAA, to our good fortune we have not really been impacted by the war. This is primarily because, South Africa is still perceived as a safe destination. Besides, the hype created by the recently held world cup has enthusiastic Indians still thronging to South Africa. So, all in all we have not borne the brunt of the war.

With success comes the challenge of consistency, how do you plan to maintain this momentum?
Very true, the culture at SAA however does not let us rest on our laurels. On the contrary, the office is already abuzz coping with this surge in demand and also preparing for the forthcoming IIFA awards, also to be held in South Africa.

Earlier the only challenge that I perceived was to market destination South Africa and not SAA, but now the bigger challenge is to capatalise on this freshly generated appeal. The only way we can maintain this momentum is not to focus on merely transporting passengers, but to ensure that their complete experience from the time they take-off to the time they arrive back, is a pleasurable one. Lip service is the best advertising campaign and each tourist the ideal ambassador.