(Agence Ecofin) – Even if it is slower than in some regions of the world, the recovery of air traffic in Africa is taking place with better prospects for this industry.
The IATA (International Air Transport Association) in its monthly traffic progress report indicated that passenger flows in Africa have become larger since the eruption of Covid-19 and stand at less than 7% of 2019 levels under February 2023 data, as global traffic recovered by 85%.
This level of activity portends a start of equilibrium from 2024 for African companies, which during the period 2020 to 2022 have accumulated 3.5 billion USD in losses. However, a return to profitability is already expected this year for several companies in other regions of the world, with some small net profits expected for certain carriers.
The period is also marked by a recovery in the flow of international passengers, which increased by 90.7% in February compared to a year ago, now representing 80% of the activities of African carriers, against 20% for domestic traffic. .
However, the pace of recovery is not identical according to an analysis according to the regions of the continent. Several companies in Central, West, East and North Africa saw their volumes exceed pre-pandemic levels, except for carriers in the southern part of the continent. Full recovery is expected in 2024 and will be driven by North Africa and East Africa.
Air cargo, whose volumes have been above 2019 levels since the start of 2021, has performed well, now posting a 31% increase in February 2023 compared to the same period in 2019.
Despite the tiny proportion of the African market in world traffic (approximately 2.1%), there are good prospects for this industry, which should see demand from the continent increase by double the current level, with favorable variables such as population density, which currently accounts for 18% of the global workforce.
However, major challenges remain and could continue to jeopardize the growth of this industry, such as insufficient infrastructure, lack of connectivity, high ticket prices influenced by exorbitant taxes and fees, security flaws in certain services, in particular air navigation, companies’ currency repatriation problems, etc.
Henoc Dossa
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