Mango Loses Longtime CEO to Africa’s Low-Cost Upstart fastjet

One South African airline’s loss is another African airline’s very valuable gain, it seems.

Mango, the low-cost sister airline to South African Airways, is losing its CEO Nico Bezuidenhout, who many credit with the airline’s success while SAA stumbles from crisis to crisis. He is moving to the six-year-old African low-cost carrier fastjet, where he will also be CEO.

Bezuidenhout, who started Mango 10 years ago, reportedly took the acting CEO job at SAA twice during its turbulent last few years under the airline’s controversial chairwoman Dudu Myeni.

In that time Mango reportedly gained about 25 percent of local market share, and has been profitable for all but two of its 10 years.

In a statement announcing his resignation – he leaves his post at the end of July – Bezuidenhout apparently did not mention SAA.

The airline fastjet was established through a partnership between British entrepreneur Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou and Rubicon Investments, and flights began in November 2012, with two daily services between Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro and Mwanza. Routes now include Mbeya and Zanzibar in Tanzania, Entebbe, Nairobi, Lusaka, Harare, Vic Falls and Johannesburg.

News reports said members of the business community were hoping Bezuidenhout would stay on with Mango and eventually take over the CEO post at SAA, although the airline is apparently in limbo still as different elements in government decide on a new board and whether or not to privatise the airline – and if so, how much.

President Jacob Zuma said recently that SAA would never be privatised, seeming to kill any prospects to find a buyer for the airline.