The South African commercial aviation sector “is alive and well and outperforming most other sectors of the economy by a considerable margin” reported the Commercial Aviation Association of Southern Africa (Caasa) in a statement released on Tuesday. The release marked the publication of the 'Caasa Aviation Activity Index (CAAI): 3rd Quarter 2016'. There was, however, a “modest decline” in comparison to the second quarter.

The CAAI is a composite index and, using a three-month moving average, since the first quarter of 2014, the CAAI has risen by more than 47%, giving an average annual growth rate of 16.8%. In comparison, the average annual growth rate of the country’s gross domestic product (weighted in accordance with the quantity/nominal value ratio used by the Index) was only 4.6%.

“The main drivers behind the sterling performance of the CAAI since 2014 have been the value of imports of aircraft and spares, as well as the value of exports of aircraft,” explained Caasa. “This combined value reached a level of R5.2-billion during the first three quarters of 2016, compared to R3.7-billion during the first three quarters of 2014.”

The association used four categories of activity to illustrate the growth between these two 9-month periods. Imports of helicopters jumped 116%, imports of aeroplanes with a mass less than 15 t rose by 46%, and there was an expansion of imports of aircraft spares of 36% and exports of aircraft of 38%.

Air traffic movements through Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) managed airports have increased modestly since 2014. The group index rose by 4.9%, with the OR Tambo International and George airports seeing the greatest increase.

However, air traffic movement growth at airports not managed by ACSA was considerably stronger over the same period, at 21.2%, with Rand Airport being the “star performer”. However, activity at these non-ACSA airports has slowed down over the past nine months.

The CAAI was launched at the Africa Aerospace and Defence 2016 exhibition in September. The first index covered the second quarter of this year. The index was created in part to acknowledge the crucial role played by commercial aviation in South Africa today, and in part to increase the data base on the country’s domestic aviation industry.