AFRICA’S AIRLINE GROWTH –
EXPECTED TO
BOUNCE BACK STRONGLY
Guy Leitch
In their much-anticipated commercial outlook for Africa, Boeing said African airlines will need 63 000 new professional staff by 2040, including nearly 20,000 pilots, 20,000 technicians and 24,000 cabin crew members.
T
HE BOEING REPORT COVERS the whole of the continent. While these projections may seem dramatic, the underlying assumptions are conservative. The forecast is made against the background of a predicted annual economic growth rate for Africa of 3% during the next two decades. Boeing projects that airlines in Africa will grow their fleets by 3.6% per year to accommodate passenger traffic growth of 5.4% annually. This is however the third highest airline traffic growth rate in the world.
Boeing says that co-operation initiatives such as the African Continental Free Trade Area and the liberalisation attempts of the Single African Air Transport Market are expected to stimulate trade, air travel and economic cooperation. Intra-African air passenger traffic is expected to grow even more rapidly, at 6.5% a year.
Africa's middleclass will double, driving increased demand for air travel
“Africa has healthy opportunities to expand travel and tourism, coinciding with increasing urbanization and rising incomes,” Randy Heisey, Boeing managing director of Commercial Marketing for Middle East and Africa said. “African carriers are well-positioned to support inter-regional traffic growth and capture market share by offering services that efficiently connect passengers and enable commerce within the continent,” he added.
Boeing expects especially strong increases in air traffic between Southern Africa and East Africa (including the Horn of Africa and north-east Africa, except Egypt).
Africa's middleclass of more than 500 million people is projected to double by 2040, driving increased demand for air travel. Africa’s strong, long-term growth prospects for commercial aviation are closely tied to the continent’s projected 3% annual economic growth over the next 20 years. "Africa has healthy opportunities to expand travel and tourism, coinciding with increasing urbanisation and rising incomes," said Heisey.
FlightCom: November 2021
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