Nomad Africa - April 2018

60 | http://www.nomadafricamag.com | ...Celebrating the world’s richest continent | Issue 11

est growth at 324%. In 2015, these num -

bers captured 85% of the market out of

74 million passengers travelling to and

from Africa. Moving forward, the fastest

growth rate of passengers is predicted to

be in countries such as Ethiopia, Gambia,

Côte d’Ivoire, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique,

Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone Benin,

Chad, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda and Zam -

bia – all posing to increase more than

7.2% and doubling their market every

decade.

Numbers recorded in 2015 indicate that

passenger traffic from only 25 African

countries represent 97.7% of the entire

aviation market in Africa – meaning the

other 29 countries are practically dormant

in the market. These figures highlight why

Africa currently only owns 2% of the

global aviation market, despite having a

population mass of over 1.2 billion people,

or 16% of the world population.

It is evident that there is enormous poten-

tial for growth. Many African countries are

not yet reaping the economic rewards

from tourism. Of course, political and eco-

nomic challenges are hurdles, including

mismanaged heavily state-controlled na-

tional carriers. Lack of funding has re-

sulted in many airlines accrueing huge

debt, when considering the high cost of

purchasing and maintaining aircraft and

airports. A single-aisle aircraft, like the Air-

bus A320 or Boeing B737-800 costs

around $98 million. Wide body aircrafts,

like the Airbus A350-800 and Boeing 787-

9 Dreamliner each cost roughly $270 mil-

lion.

In a highly competitive environment,

African national carriers have to face large

global airline companies, including

Lufthansa from Frankfurt and Air France-

KLM, which cover roughly 40 African

cities. Emirates flies to 22 African countries

via Dubai, including South Africa, Morocco

and Mauritius. Low-cost airlines entering

the market are challenging the large

brands; for example, South Africa’s Kulula

and Tanzania’s Fastjet airlines. After Mo-

rocco signed an open skies agreement

with the European Union in 2006, Euro-

pean low-cost airlines are also entering

the market, such as flydubai, which flies to

twelve African destinations, including

Egypt and Tanzania.

The 1999 Yamoussoukro Decision was a

combined pledge to open up air transport

markets in Africa to transnational compe-

tition. Only 12 African countries signed the

pledge: South Africa, Senegal, Tunisia,

Uganda, Algeria, Angola, Ghana, Kenya,

Egypt, Ethiopia, Namibia and Nigeria. Un-

fortunately, progress towards liberalisa-

tion has been slow, particularly for

passengers flying east to west on the

continent. Many travellers still have to fly

via major European airports, a time-con-

suming and costly exercise, which dis-

courages both tourism and trade to

regions such as Lagos or Kampala.

The African Airlines Association (AAFRA)

is composed of nations of the African

Union (AU) and facilitates cooperation be-

tween African airlines. The AU launched

the Single African Air Transport Market

(SAATM) in January this year in Ethiopia,

an initiative that combines numerous

safety and security regulations. The first

mandate under its Agenda 2063 aims to

create a unified air transport market and

the liberalisation of intra-Africa travel. To

date, only 23 countries have signed, in-

cluding South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria.

African carriers transport roughly 18% of

international passengers in and out of

Africa, whereas foreign airlines are grow-

ing their fleets and carry 82% of interna-

tional passengers.

Ethiopian Airlines – the largest airline in

Africa – has commended the AU’s deci-

sion to pioneer the anticipated SAATM.

According to Tewolde Gebremariam, CEO

of Ethiopian Airlines Group, most of the

airlines on the continent are “relatively

small when compared with the rest of the

world airlines” and would benefit from

joining forces.

InterVISTAS management consultants re-

leased a report in 2014, noting that the

liberalisation of air transport restrictions

across just 12 African nations would al-

ready create 155 000 jobs and contribute

$1.3 billion to the GDP. Despite the avia-

tion industry being one of the fastest-

growing industries in Africa, challenges

remain. Although visa regulations were

created with the intention of curbing

human trafficking, the resulting fees and

hassles are driving away business and

leisure travellers.

Rwanda and Ghana offer visa-free access

to certain AU member countries, or alter-

natively visa on arrival. This hassle-free

process has resulted in these areas mak-

ing the most progress of all African states

toward a visa-free Africa for Africans, ac-

cording to the Africa Visa Openness Re-

port 2017 by the African Development

Bank (AfDB). Commissioner of infrastruc-

ture and energy, Abou-Zeid Amani be-

lieves that intra-Africa travel will be

responsible for creating 300 000 direct

and 2 million indirect jobs.

"More than 500 million Africans will ben-

efit from this huge, single air market and

will help the signatory countries stimulate

their economies, further promote trade

among themselves, and give a tremen-

dous boost to tourism," she said. The AU

is of the opinion that the SAATM will en-

courage further deregulation of visa re-

strictions and move towards a common

African passport for easier movement and

inter-African trade.

Africa’s biggest aviation market, The Air-

lines Association of Southern Africa

(AASA), CEO Chris Zweigenthal high-

lighted the importance of aviation to

Of the 6.9 million jobs supported by aviation across the

African continent, 428 000 are within the industry itself and the

rest are supported as part of the industry’s supply chain and

tourism sector.