State of African aviation: Home-grown carriers battle global players
Skift Take
Tourism and trade are growing throughout Africa and are expected to boost the continent’s aviation market to profitability, but regional carriers worry their share of the profits will be snatched up by more established international carriers.
Africa is being carved up once again as airlines funnel commuter workers into the booming mining market, with Sub-Saharan carriers staking their claims against global rivals in the world’s least-developed travel market.
Carriers from Addis Ababa to Cape Town are counting on new jets and discount fares to pile on passengers and win major- airline status while seeking to overcome the continent’s reputation for graft, state meddling and poor safety. African passenger traffic grew 6.9 percent last year, ranking the region second only to the Middle East.
Standing in the way of companies such as Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise, among the first to fly Boeing Co.’s 787, and Kenya Airways, which aims to add bases across Africa, is the clout of carriers such as Deutsche Lufthansa AG and emerging-market operators led by Turkish Airlines and Emirates. More than 200 aviation executives will discuss the state of the industry next week when IATA hold its annual meeting in Cape Town.
“It would be naive to think that our backyard will not be attacked,” said Nico Bezuidenhout, deputy chief executive officer at South African Airways, the regional No. 1. “African aviation may never be as big as in Europe or North America, but it does have scope for being two or three times the size it is now.”
South African, Ethiopian and Kenya Airways face a “window of opportunity” before larger competitors pour in capacity in a major way, Elijah Chingosho, secretary general of the African Airlines Association, said in a phone interview.
Lowest profit
They’re not starti
