Siza Mzimela – The first black woman to found and own an airline: Fly Blue Crane

Meet Siza Mzimela – she is the first black woman to found and own an airline.

Mzimela is the founder and chief executive officer of Fly Blue Crane, a start-up South African airline that was launched in September this year.

Johannesburg-based Fly Blue Crane is head quartered at the O.R. Tambo International Airport – the start-up airline’s hub operational hub. The airline currently has two 50-seat ERJ 145s and offers low-cost domestic flights within the South African region.

According to Mzimela, the airline intends to expand in the near future – new routes will include destinations like Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo. “Fly Blue Crane will aim to keep its current rates in order to make flying affordable for both business and leisure travel”, she added.

Prior to launching Fly Blue Crane airlines, Mzimela served as the first female CEO of South African Airways from April 1, 2010 to October 8 2012. Under her leadership, for the first time in South African Airways history, the company introduced direct flights to New York and Beijing, China. The airline also grew its regional network by adding 8 additional routes in one year.

Mzimela is also the first woman to be appointed to the International Air Transport Association’s board of directors in 67 years. She is also a board member of the South African Tourism Board and the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls.

Her success is quite remarkable, given the history of South Africa. Just a few short decades ago the country was perhaps best known for its brutal system of racist system apartheid – where black people were ruthlessly oppressed and marginalized by a white minority. Black South Africans have made tremendous economic and social gains since the end of apartheid.