Collaboration, resilience and sustainability in African aviation

The African Airlines Association (AFRAA) and Air Senegal concluded the 54th annual general assembly (AGA) in Dakar, Senegal on 13th December, 2022. The government of Senegal gave active support to the event. The Assembly had the theme, “Acing the Roadmap to Sustainable African Aviation”. It called upon African airlines and air transport stakeholders to act on initiatives and strategies that will drive the sustainability of the air transport sector to realise its potential. Some of them were: the Air Transport Sustainability Roadmap, the effective implementation of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), the Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), and the Free Movement Protocol.

In the face of global uncertainty, African aviation will build resilience and remain on the path of sustainability by working collaboratively. Abdérahmane Berthé, AFRAA secretary-general, noted this while addressing the assembly, when he said: “As the aviation community, we must continue the ongoing joint efforts to support recovery and foster a sustainable and resilient air transport system in Africa.”

African airlines have not been able to take a front seat in the air transport industry in the region. From about 40 percent share in the market of the region, Africa now has just close to twenty percent of that same regional market. Standing and working alone will not make the industry resilient. Collaborations, partnerships and joint ventures will go a long way in building a more resilient and profitable aviation industry.

Airlines, for instance, collect massive data on passengers that airports can leverage on for e-commerce and to grow their non-aeronautical revenue. They can provide intelligence needed to understand the customer and improve the passenger experience for greater profitability. This is one benefit of collaboration among many others.

Despite the discernible growth of air transport in Africa, airlines from the continent are said not to be benefitting because they are not collaborating to build stronger carriers. The entrepreneurial spirit of Africans is such that there is business sense in collaborating as the private sector plays a more prominent role both in the airline and airport management business.

Various governments on the continent are being asked 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.

A Win-Win can be negotiated when all the stakeholders in aviation in Africa step back and see the bigger picture. The pie will be bigger and so will be the gains when the industry realises that acting collaboratively can lead to lower costs, higher passenger movements as well as more revenues and profits.

With rising insecurity and poor infrastructure across most of the continent, air travel is the preferred means of connectivity on the continent because of the dilapidated infrastructure of other means of transportation in Africa. So there will be gains also from non-aeronautical sources as more footfalls are seen in airports, and, with the propensity to go to airports with family and friends, more revenue will be derived as the customer experience is enhanced across Africa.

In line with this, Alioune Badara Fall, president of AFRAA and CEO of Air Senegal, further stated: “I pay tribute to the extraordinary work by stakeholders in putting in place projects and programmes to build together a more united future for a sustainable African aviation, for the full benefit of African economies and populations.”

“The ultimate goal,” he noted, “will realise the improvement of connectivity between African countries, build truly efficient carriers both operationally and financially, attain structurally competitive tariffs in order to offer African populations the ability to travel, meet and exchange much more easily through new routes, increased frequencies.”

Also, one of the resolutions, in line with the industry commitment towards achieving net zero emissions by 2050, the Assembly of African airlines urged all industry stakeholders to commit to addressing the environmental impact of their policies, products, and activities with concrete actions and clear timelines. They further encouraged all AFRAA member airlines to continue improving their operations’ efficiency to achieve sustained in-sector emissions reductions and to support the transition to reliable, cost-competitive Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF). So, looking ahead and meeting the needs of passengers today and into the future is a challenge that requires working together.

I recall that Nick Fadugba, chief executive officer of African Aviation Services Limited, had once said, air transport holds the key to unlocking the potential of the African continent. Stating further, Fadugba, who is also the former secretary-general of African Airlines Association (AFRAA) and currently the chairman of African Business Aviation Association (AFBAA), said sometime ago at another aviation conference: “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.”

This is a call to all industry stakeholders which holds prospects for building a more resilient and sustainable aviation industry in Africa.

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