Harmonised aviation key to Africa’s growth plans

To contextualise this, Africa’s population is 18 percent of the global population. The same can be said of the continent’s share of cargo uplifted. It is a fraction of the global total.

Two important facts may help Africa and, specifically, Kenya improve this statistic. The first is that Africa needs to scale up its aviation assets to support growth in the continent.

This entails significant increases in the sizes of airports, airlines and operators. I shall circle back to this later. The second is that aviation players need to work closer together for the ecosystem to function seamlessly.

This way, more benefits are derived from a better-functioning ecosystem focusing solely on aviation users or customers.

The Aviation Transport Action Group produces an annual report demonstrating how the aviation industry supports the global economy by playing its vital connecting role.

This report, also known as Aviation Benefits Beyond Borders, emphasises the need for African governments to place more premium on the aviation sector’s role in helping them resolve the economic quagmire in which the continent finds itself.

It is estimated that the aviation sector contributes about $75 billion to the gross domestic product of African governments. However, it contributes $290 billion to the Middle East. So, what can we do differently to bring Africa up to par?

This brings me back to my earlier point: our aviation sector needs to be scaled up because it is too small to bear the intended benefits. It is fragmented, with very little investment set aside for its growth.

Nothing demonstrates fragmentation and inefficiency better than the number of commercial airlines in Africa. For a continent that commands less than three percent of global air traffic, we have more than 17 percent of the world’s commercial airlines domiciled in Africa.

Africa has 196 commercial airlines, more than North America, the Middle East and Latin America. The solution is simple: we must consolidate the continent’s aviation assets, starting with its airlines. This lends credence to my trumpet call to get the pan African airline group off the ground.

For the record, all other continents and subcontinents have gone through this consolidation process. Africa, on the other hand, is fragmenting further.

The second immediate action that the industry needs is to ensure more collaborative working among key players.

Take Kenya, for instance. Kenya Airways must work closely with its hub airport operator, Kenya Airports Authority. This global best practice reveals that airports and airlines are conjoined twins that cannot survive without each other. But this has not happened effectively in Kenya.

It is definitely true that the growth of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport will not happen without that of Kenya Airways and vice versa. Such growth is easily demonstrated in jurisdictions with booming aviation sectors, like Singapore and many countries in the Middle East, North America and Europe.

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Let me illustrate this point further: Qatar Airways and its operating airport, Hamad Airport, are jointly managed. This has led to cost-saving efficiencies and closer collaboration and cooperation. In the US, Delta Airlines manages several terminals in its Atlanta, JFK and Minnesota hubs.

Air France is also deeply involved in the management of Charles de Gaulle, particularly the terminals in which it operates. These are just some examples of how efficiency is improved when aviation assets work in harmony. The proposal, therefore, is to ensure that aviation ecosystems in Africa work in sync for the benefit of all.

Third, government policy should be deliberate in supporting the aviation sector. Governments need to consciously place aviation at the centre of economic development blueprints. Aviation is seen as vital but not necessarily a critical catalyst for economic development.

This flies in the face of well-documented and researched evidence that presents aviation as among the biggest catalysts for economic development globally. Therefore, it should not be seen as competing with other priorities but rather as an important complementary ingredient in supporting other economic development agendas.

There is the mistaken belief that because of the cost and sophistication of aviation, it should be considered a luxury or a preserve of the elite. This perception leads to a skewed taxation regime that increases the cost of aviation in an already high-cost environment.

It also starves the sector of much-needed investment from government and private sector players. The message’s thrust then is to help reduce cost, encourage investment and implement positive policies.

The evidence is visible. Countries taking aviation seriously by growing the sector have reaped substantial economic benefits. Think of Qatar, the US, Ireland, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand, to mention but a few. There is also a list of countries that have relegated aviation to a fringe sector and paid the price in terms of economic development numbers.

The ineluctable conclusion is that clear growth in the aviation sector leads to overall economic growth and prosperity for all people.

The writer is the Group Managing Director & CEO at Kenya Airways