Learning curve

ACI Africa’s secretary general, Ali Tounsi, reflects on the huge challenges posed by COVID-19 but looks forward to the future with optimism.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the aviation industry in Africa has been, and will continue to be, unprecedented in magnitude and scope.

Indeed, we expect that the impact of the pandemic will be felt across the region for years to come, destabilising economies and affecting livelihoods.

As the ‘Evolution of Pandemic in Africa’ graphic on page 39 clearly shows, to date, Africa has witnessed three waves of the pandemic in the last 18 months.

The crisis has challenged the core foundation of the aviation industry and tested the sheer resilience of the different stakeholders composing it.

It has proved particularly tough for the continent’s airlines, for example, with the carriers currently fighting for survival including South African Airways and Air Mauritius, which recently emerged from bankruptcy and voluntary administration respectively, and Air Seychelles, which entered administration in early October.

Effectively no aviation related business has survived unscathed from the massive downturn in traffic experienced by Africa’s airports since the start of the pandemic, which led to an estimated $2.7 billion shortfall in revenues in 2020 compared to the pre-COVID forecast. And this year is not expected to be much better with expected losses of around $2.5 billion on our pre-pandemic projections.

Like elsewhere in the world, Africa’s recovery from COVID will very much be linked to a successful vaccination programme. Unfortunately, Africa continues to lag behind the rest of the world when it comes to vaccinating its population.

To put this in context, the stated goal of the World Health Organization (WHO) was to vaccinate at least 10% of the population of every country by September 2021, at least 40% by the end of the year, and 70% globally by the middle of next year.

However, as of November 8, 2021, Africa accounted for just 2.8% of the 7.2 billion doses administered worldwide meaning that only 6.2% of the continent’s population had been fully vaccinated.

Other major challenges

Nobody is in any doubt that successfully navigating our way through the pandemic is the biggest challenge currently facing Africa’s airports, but it is, of course, far from the only one. And there are no easy answers to many of them as they are systemic in nature and generally outside the control of airports.

One of the biggest challenges facing our airports is the fact that despite moves to liberalise air transport and have more Open Skies agreements in place across the continent, air access remains an issue. In fact, the lack of consistency in air access policies and national carrier protectionism practiced by many African States have resulted in persistent poor connectivity across the continent.

Another major challenge to growth are the high taxes levied by governments on aviation as they represent a huge burden and have increased the cost of travel in an arbitrary manner. Continuing in this way will pose a risk to the development of a sustainable air transport industry in Africa.

The financial stability of our airports also remains a constant challenge. Inadequate traffic levels ensures that there are many loss-making airport businesses, which ultimately results in the inability to invest in much required infrastructure and equipment. This can compromise safety and security, the basic pillars of aviation. The pandemic has simply exacerbated the situation.

We need a change of mindset from the very top in Africa to offer hope that the aviation industry can thrive again once these most testing of times are over. If governments and all industry stakeholders work together better, we can reach new heights of economic prosperity and sustainability post-pandemic.

Above all, there is need for a genuine political will to bring a paradigm shift that will allow for the liberalisation of the air transport sector, the opening of the skies and the reduction of the air travel costs in Africa.

African solutions

Africa needs African solutions which must respect its diversity, its specificities and its culture. Initiatives must be based on equity and the sharing of risks and benefits for all.

In this context, African-led initiatives by the African Union, such as the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the Free Movement of Persons Protocol (FMPP), are without doubt the way forward and will certainly bring much needed hope for economic stability and prosperity on the continent.

This is not the first time that the aviation industry in Africa has been profoundly impacted by ground-breaking events. You don’t have to go too far back, for example, to remember the Arab Spring, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and the security crisis in North Africa. And history tells us that the COVID-19 pandemic will certainly not be the last crisis to affect aviation.

What we do know is that COVID, damaging as it has been and continues to be on the industry, is bound to leave Africa with an aviation landscape potentially different from the one it was in 2019. Our airports have to learn from this experience and try to anticipate and prepare for the new future as best they can.

Bouncing back

Airports are vital gears in the aviation ecosystem and are important engines of economic growth, wealth creation and employment for Africa, which with so much potential growth ahead of it, is arguably the continent of the future.

However, as key as airports are to aviation’s recovery and future development, they cannot drive change on their own. It is therefore vital that the industry and all aviation’s stakeholders – including governments – work together to build a better future.

If everyone works together and looks in one direction, the industry can lay the foundations of the recovery and address the hurdles which existed prior to COVID-19, to ensure that the air transport industry can deliver the economic and social benefits to the communities that it serves in a durable and sustainable manner.

Since the start of the pandemic, ACI Africa’s focus has been on the restart of the industry and what operating in ‘the new normal’ means for airports. This led to the creation and promotion of the first restart and recovery procedures back in May 2020 to assist African airports and make sure that they had appropriate health and safety protocols in place to welcome back passengers and staff.

ACI Africa has also supported African airports during the restart through the Airport Health Accreditation programme, which is designed to help them comply with the new health measures and restore the public’s confidence in the safety of air travel. More than 70 African airports have been accredited to date and some are now embarking on the re-accreditation phase.

I am also pleased to say that one of our flagship initiatives, the African Airports Development Program, has ultimately proven to be of tremendous support to airport members during the pandemic, assisting them with free training courses in a virtual format and helping them with their airport certification process.

Over the past year, the quest for the democratisation of learning and development on the African continent, which is one of the most important pillars of the African Airports Development Program, has paved the way for accessible and highly affordable training courses to the airport community. And, most importantly, these courses have been delivered by high calibre African trainers and experts.

ACI Africa is determined to leave no stone unturned in that journey. We will continue to develop African expertise so that the aviation industry on the continent can stand on its own feet and become autonomous.

Our mission is to help African airports achieve their goals and overcome their challenges by giving them our unconditional support and assistance now, during this time of crisis, and in the future.

These are without doubt the toughest of times for Africa’s airport industry, but we are ready for the challenges ahead, and look forward with optimism.