BY BUSINESS REPORTER
GOING by the declining profitability in global airlines business, African carriers may fall in to losses of $100 million, International Air Transport Association (IATA), umbrella body for world airlines, observed during the week.
It said the continent may break even this year even though it posted another $100 million loss in 2010.
Tony Tyler, director general of IATA, however, urged governments on the continent to help the airlines grow by desisting from arbitrary imposition of charges without notice and without infrastructure to complement such levies and taxes.
“The development of cost-effective infrastructure is crucial to the future health of African aviation.
But infrastructure development fees are being imposed on airlines with little prior notification or consultation. The combined annual cost to airlines of three introduced since 2008 in Mali, Senegal and the DR Congo is over $100 million, more than the African industry made in 2010.
“Airlines and infrastructure providers share a common future. But we must safeguard and be guided by ICAO principles of non-discrimination, consultation, transparency, cost-relatedness and without pre-financing.
“African carriers posted a $100 million profit in 2010. IATA expects the continent’s carriers to break even in 2011 and fall into losses of $100 million in 2012. This is in line with a global trend of declining profitability in the face of global economic weakness,” he said.
He expressed concern over safety levels in Africa. In 2005 Africa recorded nearly 10 hull losses per million flights with Western built jets. By 2008 that had been reduced to two.
“That was still 2.5 times worse than the global average, but it was a significant step forward. In 2009, the rate jumped back to 9.94 and in 2010 it was 7.41. Two hull losses so far in 2011 put the rate at 4.33 against a global average of 0.37. The trend is once again in the right direction. And there have been no hull losses this year with IATA carriers. But aviation must be safe for all airlines and in all regions. And that means we have much work to do in Africa.
“It is time again to muster the political will that we found in 2005 to improve safety. I have high expectations for the African Safety Summit’s two ambitious goals for 2015: to reduce Africa’s accident rate to the global average and to remove African carriers from the European list of banned airlines. IATA does not believe that banning carriers improves safety.
Implementing global standards and best practices- as we do with the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) - delivers results. Nonetheless, the list of banned airlines is a political reality that is not going to disappear. And improving safety is incumbent on all in this industry. So, we need to work together,” said Tyler.
According to him, Runway excursions are the biggest safety challenge for Africa; urging airlines to use International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) revised Runway Excursion Risk Reduction Toolkit in order to improve safety.
IATA called for a renewed focus on aviation safety to help Africa reap the benefits of aviation connectivity. The organisation also called for a strong partnership to drive innovative solutions to the other challenges facing aviation in the region.
“Aviation’s connectivity has turned our planet into a global community. With two or three kilometers of runway, even the most remote outpost has access to the world through air transport. This is particularly important in Africa where there are often no land transport alternatives,’ he observed
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