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MARCH 2019 businesstraveller.comcarriers such as Ethiopian Airlines, South African Airways,
Kenya Airways, Air Cote d’Ivoire, Royal Air Maroc and
Eg yptair, they cannot fully compete with European or
Middle Eastern airlines that have broader global long-haul
coverage with which to subsidise African routes.
Intra-region visa restrictions are another major
impediment. According to the Africa Visa Openness
Index, Africans on average need visas to enter 55 per cent
of states within the continent.
Anthony Chibo-Christopher, chief executive of Sun
Business Strategies and Research in Nigeria, claims that
he can fly to New York for about US$500 but it costs him
US$1,200 to fly to Dakar, Senegal. There is a tendency, he
says, to think of Africa as one. In fact, prior to colonialism,
Africa was made up of a wide variety of kingdoms, most of
which did not know much about each other.
The result, he says, was that trade was defined by the
colonial relationship with Britain and France. African
countries did not develop their own trading relationships.
“Travel follows trade,” Chibo-Christopher says – Nigerians
now want to go to London, and Ivorians to Paris.
Dichter at McKinsey says that the amount of trade,
and therefore business travel, between Anglophone and
Francophone Africa remains limited.
The problem that bedevils African air travel now,
Chibo-Christopher says, is a lack of public and private
investment. The result is that Kenya Airways andAVIATION
Ethiopian Airlines are criss-crossing Africa with few rivals.
Competition is needed to bring prices down. Destination
taxes are high, he adds, as high as at Heathrow, but
without the infrastructure to match.
Governments need to cut taxes and regulation,
Chibo-Christopher says. Demand for air travel in Africa
is growing, he points out – there is, for example, a lot
of demand to fly to Kigali because of its
international status. But only state-
controlled airlines are benefiting, he says;
new airlines are needed. And yet it’s hard to
start up as an airline, making deregulation
essential. He points to Air Peace in Nigeria
as an airline that provides a good service
but faces political and regulatory pressures,
and no government subsidies. “They’re not
getting a fair deal,” he says.OPENING THE SKIES
The launch last year of the Single
African Air Transport Market (SAATM)
initiative by the African Union to open up
Africa’s skies and improve intra-African air
connectivity is “cause for optimism”, argues
IATA’s Kaczynska. “Every open air service
arrangement around the world has boosted traffic, lifted
economies and created jobs,” she says.ABOVE: The Okavango
Delta, BotswanaThe problem that
bedevils African
air travel now is a
lack of public and
private investment