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A first of its kind in South Africa, Neo Aviation is a charter flight service that offers affordable flights to more than 150 airports in South Africa.
Founded by Thokozani Miya in 2011, the charter company can fly up to four passengers anywhere, anytime, with no laborious check-ins or queues.
It charges R18 a kilometre.
So, for instance, a typical return trip from Lanseria airport to Zebula Golf Estate & Spa in Bela-Bela would cost an average of R4 400.
A return trip to Durban would cost R18 000.
The company flies you and three passengers for the price of one.
Other charters charge more than R50 a kilometre, which would make the same flight about R50 000.
This charge could be even more, depending on the aircraft used.
Neo Aviation can offer flights at a reduced amount because it uses the Cirrus SR22 – a light, ultra-modern aircraft that uses less fuel.
(It also happens to be the same plane Angelina Jolie has – and she flies it herself apparently).
Miya said demand for this type of service is growing: “We started in February this year doing two hours of flight a month. We are now doing more than 40 hours without marketing – just word of mouth.
"Our base is in Lanseria, but we are getting a lot of requests in different provinces. We might have to look at opening bases in other provinces soon.”
City Press tried out a flight to Zebula two weeks ago and we were impressed by the ease and convenience of it all.
Flyers wait in a VIP room at Lanseria airport and the Cirrus is brought on to the runway.
You take your bags with you (no hassle to check in luggage or the inconvenience of lost bags) and hop into the plane, which features aircon and leather seats.
You put on a headset to block out some of the drone of the aircraft – it also looks really cool.
The Cirrus is much slicker than a Cesna and the flight is not as scary. There is less turbulence and the navigation systems are far more advanced.
We landed on the Zebula airstrip after checking there were no animals on the runway and then went for a light lunch at its restaurant.
We boarded the plane again and we were back at the airport within half an hour.
Miya said clients could customise trips any way they wanted. If a client had several meetings to attend, the pilot would wait and take him or her to the next destination.
Miya said his typical clients were businesspeople who wanted to be in different cities on the same day, attending meetings and making it back home on the same day.
Clients include corporate businesspeople, who wanted to save costs. The plane carries three passengers for the price of one.
“We have done a lot of short distances to Newcastle, Polokwane, Thohoyandou and Durban, as well as longer distance flights to Botswana, Namibia and even Zimbabwe,” he said.
Neo Aviation had also flown a few local DJs, who liked the service because it allowed them to play more than one gig a day in different parts of the country.
To book a flight, call Neo Aviation on 011 701 3835 or fill in a flight request form on neoaviation.co.za.
Soweto-born Miya founded Neo Aviation and runs it with his business partner, Piet van Blerk. We asked him about his business journey
How was the idea born?
I came across a Nasa and Small Aircraft Transport System research programme.
The aim was to provide a safe point-to-point air travel alternative called Air Taxi.
What did you do next?
I put together a business plan in 2012 and approached a couple of local funders to see if they would be interested.
No one was willing to fund the project because it was just a concept and its success in the country had not been proved.
I decided to go to Atlanta in the US to spend a couple of days with the guys who had started a similar concept in 2005.
I was hoping they might be willing to partner me to start the concept in South Africa.
It turned out that they were not ready to expand outside the US yet. I went to Duluth in Minnesota, the home of Cirrus Aircraft.
I had a meeting with the Cirrus executive and he connected me to his partner, based in South Africa, Piet van Blerk from CDC Aviation.
When I came back I met Piet and he bought into the concept.
What do you require to run an aviation company?
An AOC (air operator’s certificate). We started the process of obtaining our licence towards the end of 2012.
We encountered some challenges along the way.
We were granted the AOC licence last year, got audited by the SA Civil Aviation Authority and launched our services in February.
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