AVIATION IN AFRICA

Home to 17% of the global population, yet Africa accounts for less than 3% of the world’s air traffic and loses an average of $1.54 per passenger carried while globally, airlines earn $6.12 per passenger carried.

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Not only do airlines lose money on each passenger, but those passengers are themselves at a disadvantage due to the high prices charged by airlines, especially nonAfrican carriers. Travellers wanting to travel from African states to anywhere else in the world, do not have much choice of carrier as the routes are dominated by foreign airlines charging exorbitant fares.

Out of 55 African states, only 8 have direct flights to more than 20 other African states often leaving the passenger obliged to transit through one or several stopovers.

Problems within African aviation were outlined at a recent AFRAA meeting:

• High operating costs due to high taxes on ground and in air

• Inadequate infrastructure

• High price of fuel compared to the rest of the world

• High level of taxes on airlines and passengers

• Restrictions on traffic rights

• Restrictions on visas to passengers

Financing for African airlines is extremely difficult to obtain thanks to the perceived risk by international financial institutions. African development banks should address this problem by putting in place adequate funding mechanisms for African airlines.

Market access

The Air Transport Market project was launched in January 2018 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Since then, a total of 28 States have committed to the agreement with 10 already implementing the measures as recommended by the African Civil Aviation Commission. The project aims to remove all restrictions on traffic rights, frequencies, capacity and tariffs.