Improving intra-African networks is key to developing the African aviation industry. An enabling environment is necessary for these regional networks to improve and evolve.

During two panel discussions at Aviation Africa 2024, held earlier this month at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, it was widely agreed that consolidation and collaboration were essential to growth and continuity, enabling continent-wide intra-Africa connectivity.

Enabling collaboration

Fouad Caunhye, CCO of RwandAir, pointed out that governments must enable collaboration and movement throughout the continent to improve African aviation and access.

“Because we put up boundaries, with visas, economics, and trade zones that are not necessarily free and fairly exchangeable, we open one door and close 10,” said Caunhye.

He noted that African airlines had an average load factor of only 60%.

“One of the main reasons is affordability but it is also because we don't put the seats we need where we need to put them.”

African aviation faces intense competition because Africa does not enable the necessary economies of scale as its global competitors do. However, Caunhye believes there is potential for a larger-scale economy through the many underserved traffic lanes that could use additional capacity.

Consolidation

Africa is known for having over 300 airlines across only 54 countries. The aviation experts in the panel discussions warned that this was unsustainable and that balance was needed.

According to Henok Teffera Shawl, MD of Boeing Africa, if African aviation does not resolve this fragmentation, foreign airlines risk taking over it. Only 20% of the African market is served by African airlines, but Shawl believes this could be resolved by cross-border consolidation.

He offered the example of Europe, which, 20 years ago, had more than 11 global airlines, due to protectionism.

“In Europe there are now four big airlines, the rest are feeders. We need that in Africa. Africa is not an exception to the rest of the world. We need to work together or our market will continue to be taken over by foreign airlines,” said Shawl.

He said every airline had a role, either as a global or a feeder airline, and the reluctance to consolidate was because it was perceived as the destruction of airlines. He encouraged the African aviation industry to see consolidation as a way to share skills and improve intra-African and international connectivity for the continent.

Capacity on trunk routes

Rodger Foster, MD and CEO of Airlink, said a Boeing analysis accurately identified the increasing demand for aircraft to increase capacity on trunk routes, facilitating connectivity with international carriers.

“We miss connections on some of our major trails, not just Qatar, but the likes of Lufthansa. We don't put enough capacity on to the trunks to de-feed and then re-feed their services to some of the trunk route destinations.”

According to Foster, regional routes across the continent would improve international connectivity for African cities that did not have access to hubs in the Gulf, Turkey and Addis Ababa.

“This is an opportunity to create connectivity into the hubs that we operate in and out of, and to make sure that we provide connections to the Gulf carriers and to all the other airlines with which we partner,” said Foster.