The City of Matlosana is one of the most rapidly growing and developing towns in the North West Province of South Africa. One of the major indicators of this is not the state of the road infrastructure, but the utilization of the airstrip and local hangers. The city has a well used airstrip with two to three private flights per week– if not more. It also embodies an aviation community of people who build, test and enjoy their aircrafts.

Consider the unit value of such individuals, who potentially employ a few hundred to thousand people directly and indirectly in the town. It’s very difficult to call that greed because not everyone is willing to work Monday to Monday, no family or kids– which are the characteristics of the business mogul taking off in this short clip.

Most of these people are old white males, which is not surprising, but there are a number of blacks in the North West Province with private aircrafts too. The main reason why private aircrafts are so important to small towns is that the wealthiest in the towns tend to have businesses in multiple locations on a continental scale. Some go as far as using their profits from other businesses to support sometimes contracting business in the small towns.

Consider the unit value of such individuals, who potentially employ a few hundred to thousand people directly and indirectly in the town. That’s a few university students, and a new legacy generation for a number of families. It’s very difficult to call that greed because not everyone is willing to work Monday to Monday, no family or kids– which are the characteristics of the business mogul taking off in this short clip.

That aside, the airstrip however needs investment, and one of the key elements behind regional development involves setting good quality institutional support. A year ago, a few students and I had the opportunity to ride this wave– and witness the charter industry in action. This is a short video of the take off.