SOUTH AFRICA BLOCKADE IN THE AIR TWENTY MINUTES FROM NIAMEY, NIGER, APPROACHING 
FOR A NIGHT LANDING, THE PILOT OF THE CHARTERED SOUTH AFRICAN 
CONSTELLATION RECEIVED AN UNSETTLING MESSAGE FROM THE CONTROL TOWER : TURN 
AWAY OR HAVE THE PLANE SEIZED ON THE GROUND . WITH 
HIS FUEL TANKS ALMOST EMPTY, THE PILOT HAD TO SET DOWN 
ANYWAY, AND THE CONNIE, ITS CREW AND 79 PASSENGERS MOST OF 
THEM WHITE SOUTH AFRICANS RETURNING FROM EUROPEAN HOLIDAY WERE SURROUNDED BY 
BLACK GUARDS ARMED WITH RUSTY RIFLES . NOT UNTIL 24 HOURS 
LATER WAS THE FLIGHT ALLOWED TO RESUME, AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES WARNED 
THAT IN THE FUTURE INTRUDING SOUTH AFRICAN PLANES WOULD BE CONFISCATED 
. AT LAST MAY'S AFRICAN " SUMMIT CONFERENCE " IN ADDIS 
ABABA, SOUTH AFRICA'S NEIGHBORS CALLED FOR AN ECONOMIC BOYCOTT, TO INCLUDE 
THE BANNING OF SOUTH AFRICAN AIRCRAFT FROM AIRPORTS AND AIRSPACE . 
BY LAST WEEK AN AIR CURTAIN HAD CLOSED AFRICAN SKIES TO 
SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS, WHOSE PROUD SYMBOL IS A WINGED SPRINGBOK, FORCING 
ITS PLANES INTO A TORTUOUS DETOUR . UNTIL LAST MONTH, S.A.A.'S 
BOEING 707 JETS OPERATED TWO EFFICIENT ROUTES BETWEEN JOHANNESBURG AND EUROPE 
ONE ALONG AFRICA'S EAST FRINGE, VIA NAIROBI, KENYA ; THE OTHER 
ALMOST DUE NORTH VIA BRAZZAVILLE, IN THE ONCE-FRENCH CONGO . TROUBLE 
BEGAN WHEN, IMPLEMENTING THE ADDIS ABABA AGREEMENT, EGYPT, ALGERIA, ETHIOPIA AND 
SUDAN BARRED SOUTH AFRICAN AIRCRAFT FROM OVERFLYING THEIR TERRITORIES . S.A.A 
. REROUTED ALL ITS FLIGHTS OVER LIBYA . BUT THEN LIBYA 
ALSO JOINED THE AIR BLOCKADE . FORTNIGHT AGO S.A.A . INAUGURATED 
A CAREFULLY PREPARED, OUT-OF-THE-WAY ALTERNATE ROUTE AROUND WEST AFRICA'S BULGE, VIA 
BRAZZAVILLE (WHICH SO FAR HAS NOT JOINED THE BAN), LUANDA, CAPITAL 
OF PORTUGUESE ANGOLA, AND LAS PALMAS IN THE SPANISH CANARY ISLANDS 
(SEE MAP) . THE " APARTHEID ROUTE " TAKES ABOUT 900 
MILES AND TWO HOURS LONGER TO EUROPE, COSTS AN ESTIMATED $3,000 
MORE TO OPERATE EACH WAY, SO THAT S.A.A . MAY WELL 
BE HARD PRESSED TO PRESERVE ITS SHARE OF THE LUCRATIVE EUROPEAN 
MARKET AS WELL AS LAST YEAR'S HANDSOME $1,500,000 PROFIT . AS 
USUAL, SOUTH AFRICA'S WHITE REGIME TOOK ITS LATEST HUMILIATION IN STOLID 
STRIDE . FOLLOWING AN AGREEMENT QUIETLY SIGNED LAST MAY WITH PORTUGAL, 
ITS LIKEMINDED ALLY, SOUTH AFRICA IS PUTTING UP $5,300,000 TO HELP 
CONSTRUCT A JET AIRPORT ON THE CAPE VERDE ISLAND OF SAL 
AS AN ADDITIONAL REFUELING STOP . SOUTH AFRICAN MINISTER OF TRANSPORT 
BEN SCHOEMAN ASSURED EVERYONE THAT THE ISLAND-HOPPING DETOUR IS EVERY BIT 
AS SAFE AS THE OLD ROUTES . " WE ARE FLYING 
AND WILL KEEP FLYING, " HE VOWED . THE AIRLINE HAS 
ALREADY LAUNCHED AN ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN EXTOLLING THE SCENIC CHARMS OF SUCH 
OFFBEAT PLACES AS LUANDA AND LAS PALMAS, AND A CAPE TOWN 
COLUMNIST ELOQUENTLY EXTOLLED THE USES OF ADVERSITY . " BOYCOTTS HAVE 
TURNED US INTO SMARTER SALESMEN, " THE PUNDIT WROTE . " 
ARMS EMBARGOES HAVE FORCED US TO MAKE OUR OWN WEAPONS, AND 
THE AIR BAN HAS SENT A PATRIOTIC THRILL RUNNING DOWN THE 
SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS FUSELAGE . / 