Aviation Experts Seek Collaboration for Air Transport Growth in Africa

Chinedu Eze in Addis Ababa

Aviation experts in Africa have identified collaboration, partnerships and joint ventures as the key for indigenous airlines to retake the region market from international carriers that currently have about 80 per cent dominance of air travel on the continent.

They noted that in a highly competitive environment, African airlines have only 20 per cent of the market in region, down from 60 per cent two decades ago, adding that the region is underserved because in comparison to other continents, Africa’s inter-city connectivity is still very low.

The experts, who converged wednesday on Addis Ababa, Ethiopian capital, to attend the 29th MRO Africa and 8th African Aviation Training Conference and Exhibition, said it is only through partnership that airlines on the continent, which are relatively small, could grow into stronger and bigger carriers to dominate the African air travel market.

The Group Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines, Tewolde GebreMariam, said despite discernible growth of air transport in African, airlines from the continent are not benefitting because they are not collaborating to build stronger carriers.

GebreMariam called on various governments on the continent to review downwards the taxes they level on aviation, which include taxes on airport services, aviation fuel, passengers and on airlines in order to bring down the fares so that ordinary citizens on the continent can travel by air, adding that air travel is the only means of connectivity on the continent because of dilapidated infrastructure of other means of transportation in Africa.

The Ethiopian Airlines boss said it is wrong for governments in Africa to tax aviation the same way they tax cigarettes and alcohol, noting that air travel is critical necessity for the economic growth of any nation, and regretted that governments see air transport as the choice of travel for the elite.

According to him, “We have to change our attitude in Africa. We have to collaborate in order to grow air travel on the continent. We have highly skewed air travel market in Africa with 80 per cent of the market share controlled by foreign airlines, while African airlines have only 20 per cent of the market. But 20 years ago, foreign airlines had 40 per cent of the market, while African airlines had 60 per cent.

“So we are facing a decline which must be halted. We believe in 50-50 market share; so it is left for us to fight to get back the market share, and this can be done through collaboration and partnerships.”

In his opening remarks, the organiser of the conference and the CEO of African Aviation Services Limited, Nick Fadugba, said air transport holds the key to unlockng the potential of the African continent.

Fadugba, who is also the former secretary-general of African Airlines Association (AFRAA) and currently the chairman of African Business Aviation Association (AFBAA), said lack of trust among African airlines is responsible for the lack of cooperation, adding that many of the challenges facing African airlines currently could be resolved through cooperation and partnerships.

“We cannot continue to blame foreign carriers from outside the continent; we have to blame ourselves, and if we work together, we would solve many of the challenges besetting African airlines today,” he said.