Aviation Africa: Industry panel debates challenges and opportunities

A distinguished panel of industry experts discussed the challenges and opportunities facing the African aviation industry.
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Moderated by Alan Peaford, editor in chief, Arabian Aerospace and African Aerospace, UK, the panel comprised Hussein Dabbas, vice president, Africa and Middle East, IATA; Girma Wake, chairman, Rwandair; Hon. Dzifa Aku Attivor, minister of transport, Ghana; John Kassis, vice president sales, Africa and Middle East, Bombardier; and Tawanda Gusha, director airports, Civil Aviation Authority, Zimbabwe.
 
African aviation has historically been seen as the underdog in global growth predictions, with a poor reputation for safety, an ageing fleet and a lack of cooperation between governments. It also also suffered from lack of investment in its infrastructure.
 
But are these just a matter of perception or is it reality?
 
Girma Wake, Chairman, Rwandair, said that training is key, as is good government support, but not interference.
 
“The ability to deliver good service comes from preparing new staff and training them to make decisions,” he said. “It also needs commitment from staff and full commitment and support from government.
 
“We told the government – we don't want any money. We'll manage our own finances,” he said. “The government has a right to know what you are doing, it can have input to your plan, but once it accepts that plan it should leave you alone.
 
“I have also seen many countries where CEOs want a big salary. But do that and you have to pay your staff big salaries too. There has to be an element of sacrifice to make it work,” Wake concluded.
 
Dzifa Aku Attivor, Minister of Transport for Ghana, said: “We have two airlines already that have collapsed. One was owned by the government where there was a lot of interference. The second one had private investment, but it too collapsed.”
 
She said Ghana is currently in the process of setting up a national carrier, but it has learned its lesson and there will be no government interference.
 
“Hopefully, by the end of this year we will have our airline back in the skies,” Attivor concluded.
 
Hussein Dabbas, vice president, Africa and Middle East, IATA, said Africa faces a lot of challenges. He said 23 African countries have full open skies agreement with the US, but not a single open sky agreement with other African countries.
 
Dabbas added: “A recent study showed that if 12 African countries opened up their skies there would be more than five million passengers travelling, more than 150,000 jobs and GDP could increase by $1.3bn.”
 
“Aviation is a key factor of growth,” he said. “Where would Dubai be without Emirates? Where would Singapore be with Singapore Airlines?
 
“There are more than 50 countries in Africa. Do they all need airlines? There will have to be some consolidation and there is a need for airlines to work together.
 
“There are 1.2bn people in Africa. There is a great potential, but the governments need to better understand the aviation sector,” he said.
 
Bombardier's John Kassis added: “An important element of safety is the age of a country's airline fleet. We are partnering with airlines to look at ways of getting newer aircraft into the region.
 
“Cross-cooperation between airlines and countries is also important. It is all about spreading expertise and knowledge.”
 
African Ministers of Transport recently declared their full support for the African Union Commission’s proposal for the establishment of a single African air transport market by 2017.
 
Dzifa Aku Attivor said: “In Ghana we have set up an aviation training school and have been in discussion with Abu Dhabi and South Africa for collaboration. We are currently handling in excess of two million passengers and need to improve our infrastructure.”
 
Hussein Dabbas said there are currently more than 3.5bn passengers flying each year and by 2030 this will increase to 7bn passengers.
 
“IATA realises that this is a challenge and we are working with all countries to improve the human capital needed to support this,” he said.
 
“We have training establishments in Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Ghana. Aviation is an important industry and needs the right people for it to succeed.”
 
Girma Wake, chairman, Rwandair, said having a good training facility is not cheap. The only way forward is to have shared facilities.
 
“Human beings always want more. At some point they will get married and have children. Then they will want more money – and move to the UAE!” he said.
 
“EgyptAir has suffered from this. So Africa has to think carefully about how it approaches compensation and retention. A system must be found to encourage people to stay.
 
“Governments could supply incentives. If you lost all your air traffic controllers where would you be? So I think training is important, but you can't sustain this if you cannot keep your people. In Africa we haven't done enough.
 
“At the end people may come back to their own country. But it is more important to keep the right atmosphere to keep people their in the first place, treating them well, paying them well and giving them job security.”
 
“I think we must keep training people, but must do more to retain them,” he concluded.

 

 
Steve Nichols

Steve Nichols

Steve (BSc Hons, FIIC) is a journalist and communicator with more than 35 years' experience.