AFRICAN aviation experts have blamed the bankruptcy of the continent's airlines on interference by governments.
They painted a gloomy future for airlines on the continent, just as they posited that the carriers were too small, weak and fragmented.
They advised them to merge and/or create alliances to enhance their long-term viability.
The region's delegates to the 20th Air Finance for Africa Aviation Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia noted that the days of "stand alone" African airlines aiming to be "long haul trunk carriers" and "flag bearers" were no longer realistic, adding that the industry was too globalised, rapidly changing, highly safety- conscience, highly regulated and too capital-intensive.
Managing Partner, Ernst and Young, a global financial advisor for airlines, telecommunications firms, and other vital sectors, Mr. Zemedeneh Negatu, disclosed that African airlines would need over 400 new aircraft in the next 20 years costing over $40 billion according to Boeing and over 600 airplanes costing more than $72 billion, according to Airbus.
Negatu, in his paper entitled, "Africa's Economic Transformation: Implications for African Aviation," stated that Air France and KLM were convinced that they were too small to compete on their own and merged in 2004, adding that yet, even as "stand alone," they were each several times bigger than all sub-Saharan African airlines combined.
He hinted that with the look of things, there would probably be five major airlines in sub-Sahara Africa. He listed the airlines as South African Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways, and most likely, one or two airlines out of Nigeria may join the "majors" club within five years.
He, however, identified poor airport infrastructure such as lighting, navigation equipment, as reasons for expensive airline operations in Africa, disclosing that very few airports in Africa have 500,000 passengers per year, the level needed to make them viable.
His words: "African airlines cannot go it alone. They need to collaborate into African or global alliance groupings like big airlines are doing. Landing fees, over flying charges, ground handling fees, etc, are high compared to the United States and Europe making airline operations expensive in Africa."
He explained that the capacity of Africa-based financial institutions in Public Private Partnership (PPP) should be developed to enable these institutions to serve Africa's growing aviation sector.
The delegates recommended that African governments must either invest or encourage investment (i.e. PPP model) of a sizeable percentage of their gross domestic product (GDP) in aviation infrastructure in order for their aviation sector to grow and contribute to their economies' growth.
They equally advised that for the continent's carriers to prosper, the continent must implement the "African Open" skies policy, which liberalises air transport on the continent.
According to him, "if close to 20 African countries can sign 'Open Skies' with the U.S., why is it difficult to make 'African Open Skies' a reality? If the EU has 'Open Skies' within Europe and the U.S., why can't there be 'African Open Skies' for airlines from African Union (AU) member countries?"
The Guardian