Charles Alcock is managing editor of the AIN Media Group, having rejoined the company in 2019. He has been an aviation journalist since 1986, and previously worked for AIN from 1990 to 2017, most recently as editor-in-chief. His main focus is on covering new aviation technology and business models, as well as international news.
Having been raised in the London area, Alcock studied at the University of Manchester in the UK and earned an honors degree in Politics and Modern History. He speaks English and French, and some German.

Managing Editor

Charles Alcock

Trip support group African Open Sky (AOS) opened offices in Djibouti and Burundi last month, taking its network on the continent to more than 50 locations. The move follows the opening of offices in São Tomé and Niger in November.

 


According to AOS, the volume of business aviation flights it is assisting in Africa outstripped the overall growth rate for this sector last year throughout Africa, with a 40- to 45 percent increase in traffic between 2013 and 2014 compared with an overall average of around 30 percent.

 


AOS founder and CEO Max Cisse told AIN that his company stands apart from trip support groups based outside Africa by having more directly owned offices across the continent. In addition to its headquarters in Abidjan, AOS has 22 other offices and more than 30 local representatives.

 


Cisse also claimed that, unlike his competitors, AOS fields offices that are established as locally registered businesses and are approved by national civil aviation authorities to coordinate flight operations. “It is important to have this certification. Local authorities [in Africa] generally insist on it because they consider support companies to be the same as the aircraft operators themselves [in terms of legal accountability for flights],” he told AIN.

 


In AOS’s experience, significant variations remain between individual African states in the regulations governing business aircraft operations. Since the legal consequences of breaching these regulations can be quite severe, the company believes it is vital for operators to have the expert assistance and support of a legally established local trip-support company.

 


AOS arranges flight and landing permits and provides flight data and coordinating arrangements for handling, fuel, maintenance, security, hotels and ground transportation. It also handles payments for local charges, allowing its clients to avoid additional costs associated with third-party credit charges.

 


“Nothing is easier nowadays in Africa than getting short-notice permits or finding an AOS supervisor ready to arrange and pay all requested charges on behalf of a crew, even in countries known to be complicated,” said Cisse. Over the next two years, AOS is committed to working closely with various African aviation authorities to support efforts to provide more suitable support infrastructure at various airports.

 


AOS now has offices or representation in Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Guinea-Conakry, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania and Togo. The company, which was formed in 2009, also has opened a regional branch in the United Arab Emirates to assist its growing Middle Eastern client base.

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