The Routes Africa Strategy Forum provided African aviation leaders with a forum to tackle and debate the challenges of air service development in the continent. While launching new routes can be challenging, Africa simply cannot be ignored, as it will remain one of the fastest emerging regions in the years to come. Routes News had a front row seat.
Liberalisation, safety and security, challenges around data collection in Africa, lack of stakeholder cooperation and the importance of lobbying African governments were all top of the agenda at the Routes Africa Strategy Forum on May 31, held in the Ezulwini Valley in Swaziland. While there was no doubt that Africa is a growing market, industry leaders did not shy away from tackling the challenges facing route development in the region.
Delivering a frank and hard-hitting presentation was Africa Airlines Association's (AFRAA) secretary general, Nick Fadugba, who urged everyone involved in air service development in Africa to "get their skates on with more action and less talking".
Fadugba pointed out that African carriers are losing out to Middle Eastern and European carriers who continue to grow their presence in the continent. "Africa is dominated by non-African airlines that control over 70% of long-haul traffic from Africa," he said, adding that many of Africa's airlines simply remain too small and weak to compete with these larger players. He pointed out that the average fleet size in Africa is between five and 10 aircraft, making it extremely challenging for local airlines to operate an effective network.
Growth Stifled By Bilaterals
While Fadugba was frank about the lack of progress with the Yamoussoukro Decision (YD) in Africa,, he firmly laid the blame for the lack of liberalisation with national African governments, airports and airlines themselves.
"In parts of Africa there is an unwillingness to implement the YD. If African countries and civil aviation authorities will not implement a legally binding instrument of the African Union, we only have ourselves to blame," he said. These countries are not only blocking other airlines from entering the market, he said, but also stifling poverty alleviation and economic development. "It is an unacceptable situation that African countries are being denied vital access to African markets and that these countries are in turn being denied the benefits of air transport development".
These messages were echoed by Solomon Dube, acting director general of Swaziland's Civil Aviation Authority, who urged aviation stakeholders, particularly tourism authorities and economic development agencies to work together more effectively in opening up new regional, intra-African routes.
Potential For 195 New City Pairs In Africa
The huge potential for new city pairs was clearly illustrated by Jorge Abando, Bombardier's regional marketing manager for Middle East & Africa. He demonstrated that according to Bombardier's own studies, based on a completely unconstrained bilateral environment, there is a potential for 195 new non-stop routes in Africa. This data was based on O&D data, looking at city pairs within 3,000 nautical miles, with three weekly flights and an average load factor of 65%.
Abando said that of these 195 city pair routes, 80 are intra-African, largely from Southern Africa to North and West Africa, as well as some between North African countries.
Then there are 115 opportunities beyond Africa's borders - largely in North Africa, from East Africa to the Middle East, to/from Egypt and from West Africa to Europe.
Abando concluded: "It is a less liberal environment but there are opportunities to expand."
Opportunities For Regional Aircraft
Nigel Mayes, managing director of Routes also stressed that although there are many challenges and barriers to entry, these should not be viewed at debilitating. "There are a number of reasons that these city pairs are not being served, one of which is the bilaterals and African governments' roles in these. There are opportunities for the sub-100 seat market, but governments are not willing to renegotiate bilateral agreements and there doesn't seem to be enough support for turboprop aircraft." He cited the example of Federal Air in South Africa, which lobbied governments for nearly five years before managing to launch flights from Johannesburg to Vilanculous in Mozambique.
Where Are The New Markets?
Alex Strahl, RDG's president for airport relations in Africa took the opportunity to outline some of the fastest growing and top performing markets in Africa.
Africa is dominated by two big airport players: one in the south and one in the north - Johannesburg in South Africa and Cairo in Egypt. Both are home to Star Alliance airlines, South African Airways and Egyptair. These two gateways each handle over 10mppa.
However, most African airports can only dream of these numbers, with over 80% of the continent's gateways handling less than one million passengers per year.
Airports in Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and South Africa last year handled 60% of Africa's air traffic and this year this is forecast to reach 70%. Good growth is being recorded in Egypt's Sharm El Sheik, Marrakesh, Addis Ababa, Dar Es Salaam, Nairobi, Monastir and Accra.
Strahl pointed out that South Africa and North Africa will continue to make strides this year - firstly for South Africa due to the FIFA World Cup and the marketing opportunities that come along with it, and in North Africa due to the effect of Morocco's open skies agreement with the EU.
Safety And Security
While the opportunities for route development are there, Africa's poor safety and security needs to remain the continent's top priority.
AFRAA's Fadugba said: "I want to stress in no uncertain terms that air safety is our number one priority. Africa has the worst air safety record in the world and AFRAA, civil aviation authorities and governments are all responsible for improving the safety record. However, the EU cannot be the impartial judge of safety and if there is going to be a blacklist it should be compiled by ICAO."
It is up to African aviation stakeholders to improve African air safety but I am also appealing to the African Union to respond to this EU blacklist."
Once again, the Strategy Forum proved to be the place for the region's industry leaders to engage in frank and constructive discussions, many of which were continued through into the one-to-one meetings and networking events during Routes Africa.
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