Air traffic in Africa set for take-off, experts predict

AFRICA has long been the El Dorado just over the horizon for airlines‚ but sustained economic growth and the emergence of a middle class on the continent may finally clear the obstacles from the runway.

“Today‚ Africa accounts for just a small portion of global air traffic, less than 3% of passengers, when it has 15% of the world’s population‚” Bertrand Mouly-Aigrot‚ an air transport expert at Archery Strategy Consulting, said. “Thus . . . there is considerable development potential.”

The forecasts for growth in air traffic are optimistic. Boston Consulting Group sees average growth of 6.2% for the coming 10 years‚ 4.9% in the following decade and 5.5% the decade after that.

“The continent is following on the heels of the Asia and Asia-Pacific regions‚ two very dynamic regions‚” an air transport specialist at the firm, Sylvain Duranton‚ said. But that dynamism is so far limited to routes linking Africa with the rest of the world‚ with competition increasing as emerging industry majors like Emirates and Turkish Airlines have flown into the fray.

Meanwhile‚ few ply the skies between African destinations. The market has been left to domestic airlines with tiny fleets like Senegal Airlines or Cameroon’s Camair-Co. Ticket prices remain high. “Today a quarter of the intra-African routes are served by just one company‚” Mouly-Aigrot said.

Growth in air traffic was directly correlated with economic expansion‚ and Africa had been growing at nearly 5% for the past five years‚ Duranton said.

Population growth, urbanisation and distance between cities supported demand for air travel. – AFP