Abdérahmane Berthé, the Secretary-General of the African Airlines Association (AFRAA), which encompasses 44 carriers, highlighted Nigeria’s unique position with a robust domestic and intercontinental market in Africa.
According to newtelegraphng.com, Berthé expressed his aspiration for Nigeria to establish an airline that could emulate the continental coverage achieved by Ethiopian Airlines.
With about 12 airlines consisting of Aero Contractors, Azman, Arik, Overland, United Nigeria, Rano, Ibom Air, Dana, Air Peace, Max Air, Nigerian Eagle and Green Africa, Nigeria has the highest number of domestic airlines operating domestic, regional and intercontinental operations with about 12 million domestic passenger-traffic annually, despite the over 220 million population.
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Berthe spoke to New Telegraph on the sidelines of the just concluded MRO Africa convened in Addis Ababa by the Chief Executive Officer of African Aviation Services, Nick Fadugba, which brought together airline CEOs along with aviation leaders, decision makers and influencers from Africa, the Middle East and globally to drive the advancement of aviation in Africa collaboratively.
He noted that Nigeria has the potential to be a top aviation country in Africa and to be a strong player in Central and West Africa. His words: “Nigeria is a big market. We have some member airlines from Nigeria.
So, if you look at the continent, in aviation, we have much activity in East, and southern regions and West and Central are weak. Only Nigeria has a strong domestic market and intercontinental market. I hope to see Nigeria having an airline which will also cover the continent like the Ethiopian Airlines is doing today.
“You see Ethiopian Airlines globally operating out of Africa and within Africa; so Nigeria has the potential and I hope that from the Western Central region, we can have a hub in Nigeria to connect Africa as well, this will be important.”
Berthe further stated that the number of aircraft operated on the African continent in the next 10 years is estimated to reach 1,429 units as the result of a growth rate of 2.3 per cent per year from 2024-34. He expressed excitement over the continent’s aviation, adding: “We need to create an environment to develop the traffic through affordability of fares.
That is why the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) is important, as well as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA), because if there is no activity between countries, it is difficult for an airline to open a route.”
The AFRAA scribe considered aircraft Maintenance Repairs and Overhaul (MRO) as very important to the growth of airlines, but said the cost of aircraft repairs and high jet fuel prices are the twin most expensive cost elements for airlines. “We know that in Africa fuel costs are very, very high.
Now we are seeing also maintenance becoming high cost because of the supply chain and the logistics, restrictions and customs sometimes in some countries. So these challenges are making it difficult to develop MRO activities in the continent.
“However, if we see that we expect the traffic to double by 2042, it means that we have more aircraft in operation; more aircraft means more maintenance, so we need also to have MRO.” The Group Managing Director of Ethiopian Airlines, Mesfin Tasew, said: “The cost of operation is very high. There are also taxes to pay. There is a very low level of infrastructure.
They can’t buy spare parts and that is one of the issues faced by Nigerian airlines. There are several reasons. The business environment is not conducive. “The second issue is the issue of storage. They need storage to succeed. They need disciplined leadership. We have to address these issues.”
