SAA chief optimistic about creation of single air market in Africa

SA Airways (SAA) is optimistic about the creation of a Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), CEO John Lamola said at the opening of the Wings of Change Focus Africa conference in Johannesburg.

The two-day event is hosted by the International Air Transport Association (Iata), bringing together leadership and management of the association as well as executives and representatives of airlines, aviation companies and tourism promotion bodies.

SA is one of 34 signatories of SAATM and a member of its pilot project. SAATM is a project of the AU’s Agenda 2063. 

Lamola pointed out the African airline sector had a crucial role in providing air connectivity for people and trade on the continent as well as in achieving many of the goals of the AU’s Agenda 2063. 

“For its part, SAA regards itself inherently as a corporate citizen of Africa. Since 1994, the Pan-African business philosophy has been at the core of SAA’s vision, mission and strategy,” he said.

That is why, when SAA restarted operations post-Covid in 2021, its Africa-focus was clear from its route network expansion and alliance strategies. SAA wants to help grow African aviation collaboratively. 

Population

In her presentation, Marie Owens Thomsen, Iata chief economist, said Africa’s population was 18% of the global population, but the continent’s air traffic — both domestic and international — accounted for only 2% of total global air transportation. She pointed out that poor connectivity led to poor economic outcomes.

While air traffic on the continent is growing, the pace is slowing and passenger traffic lags behind cargo, the latter reflecting a rising demand for air cargo across all regions in the world. Iata expects that Africa’s air passenger traffic will double by 2043 eclipsing 340-million passengers and East Africa leads the expected growth on the continent.

Owens Thomsen also said that jet fuel in Africa was almost 20% more expensive than the global average.

As for ticket taxes and charges, she said these varied widely across Africa, adding significantly to travel costs in some countries.

For example, SA’s international highest rate economy class passenger ticket taxes and charges are about $132 a ticket, close to Germany at $131 a ticket, and compared with the US at $28, Kenya at $50 and the  United Arab Emirates (UAE) at $34. African airlines make only about US$0.9 a passenger.

Iata urged SA’s new government to leverage aviation for economic growth and job creation. The association said SA also had vast potential in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production and called on the country to mobilise its experience, resources and infrastructure to accelerate the development of SAF production.