African airlines should pull together
BOEING has predicted that Africa will need around 1 000 more aircraft by 2040 to meet demand, but the manufacturer believes it will take an “aviation eco-system” to properly support that level of passenger traffic.
Boeing President for Middle East, Turkey and Africa, Kuljit Ghata-Aura, was in Cape Town to meet various aviation partners from across the continent at the recent AviaDev Africa 2022 route development conference. The conference is an initiative intended to boost route development and facilitate new airline partnerships and airport agreements.
Ghata-Aura said he was thrilled with the opportunity to connect with significant airline players at the conference.
Boeing has predicted a recovery of air travel to pre-pandemic levels by 2023 to 2024, led by domestic air travel with intra-regional markets following, as health and travel restrictions ease.
He said the future of air travel in Africa was bright and that passenger growth and GDP growth were tracking above the global average. He said African stakeholders should be looking to work together to unlock real growth and overcome some of Africa’s market challenges. “We have 55 countries and multiple airlines.”
According to Ghata-Aura, 17% of Boeing’s future orders from African players are for narrow-body aircraft. “The rest are wide-body, which is a reflection of the market. Airlines need to be very efficient here and carriers are really looking at growing the intra-African travel.”
The majority of those orders are for the Boeing 737 Max 8 and the B787-9 and B787-8 Dreamliners, which, he said, were especially popular for international services.
“The Max order book is solid. Ethiopian Airlines has more than 20 on order and FlyDubai is another big customer.
“Design is always going to be partner-led, but we have got to look at Africa’s challenges. When we can get to a genuine open-skies situation, it will benefit everyone. If growth is going to be supported in the way that we want it to be, there has got to be an eco-system that includes maintenance, one that cuts through the red tape. Air travel has to be frictionless. The sustainability of the industry includes African players’ ability to service aircraft.”
Ghata-Aura was excited about the future of intra-Africa travel, and described the opportunity as being at least twice as big in Africa as the rest of the world. “Statistically,” he said, “fewer than 5% of people have been on an aircraft. Africa is the last true, genuine growth market.”
Boeing has predicted that about 43 500 new aircraft will be needed by 2040 to meet global demand (Boeing Commerical Market Outlook 2021-2040).
