With an average 12% annual growth in air transport, Africa is one of the highest growth regions in worldwide aviation, yet some parts remain virtually cut off from the rest of the world while intra-African travel remains cumbersome.
  This was the word from Koustav Dhar, CEO of Jagson Airlines India, at the Africa Aviation Outlook 2010 conference in Cape Town last week.
  He said Africa’s potential is exemplified by the fact that only 103m of its 0.98bn strong population currently travel by air, despite the fact that there are 71 functional airlines operating a total of 532 aircraft on the continent. Domestic passenger numbers grew from 28.5m in 2003 to 82.87m in 2009, while domestic aircraft numbers grew from 158 in 2003 to 445 in 2009. Another positive trend is the growth in weekly international departures from Africa (from 5108 in 2003 to 12543 in 2009). However, Africa’s largest carrier, South African Airways, is under-serving South America, North and Central Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia, he said, all potential areas of route enhancement and high yield long-term routes. He pointed out that Emirates, a non-African carrier, now is the largest single airline serving Africa with 63 daily frequencies in a widely-spread route network across the continent. British Airways concentrates mainly on North, East and Southern Africa; while KLM/Air France jointly operate more than 61 frequencies to Africa, but largely ignores Central Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands. Following the introduction of low-cost carriers and several start-ups, consolidation is now happening in Africa because of fierce competition, price wars, infrastructure constraints, pilot shortages, mergers and acquisitions. Dhar predicted this could lead to big airlines using narrow-bodied aircraft competing for the same passengers in the same markets; and big players and several others competing for specific markets on regional routes resulting in higher frequencies. He said a higher concentration of services is needed on regional routes and more regional aircraft in the 70 to 100-seat category are needed for quick turnarounds. He said Open Skies policies must include Central African nations, which need better connections to Europe, Asia and the Middle East. West Africa and South America need better connections, the route having the best growth potential for African aviation. He believed the Indian Ocean Islands, Central- and Western Africa need to be marketed better in Europe and the US, Europe and Asia. He said Namibia, Algeria, Sudan, the Comores and Madagascar need to be promoted through the Open Skies policy to attract more airlines and encourage entrepreneurs to start medium and regional airlines. He said there is a real need for a strong regional airline supporting domestic African operations and connecting most African nations with multiple frequencies. He suggested Egypt or Morocco should be promoted as the natural African hub for Middle East-Africa, Asia-Africa and Africa-Europe flights. Addis Abbaba and Abuja are natural hub choices for Africa-US and Africa–Asia connections.