IATA’s, Vice president, Africa and Middle East, Kamil Al Alwadi, who spoke at the ongoing, identified about 27 charges imposed on airlines by the Nigerian government.
According to him, research indicates that Nigeria holds the top position in terms of airport charges among African countries.
He noted that Abuja airport is the most costly airport in Africa, closely followed by Lagos airport.
He lamented the stunted growth of aviation in the region, especially Nigeria, calling on the Nigerian government to create a conducive environment for airlines to thrive.
In his word: “In a recent research conducted web discovered that the most expensive airport in Africa is Abuja airport, followed by Lagos airport, with all these exorbitant charges, Nigerian airlines can’t compete with their foreign counterparts.
“Africa has put itself in a a place where it cannot help its own, expensive fuel, excessive charges, leasing and insurance through the roof, the airlines need to be financially viable too. The airlines contribute to the country’s GDP but Nigeria needs to decide what to do for them to survive.
“Carriers based in Africa are expected to generate a moderate combined loss of around USD 484 million in 2023 because the continent remains a challenging market in which to operate an airline, with economic, infrastructure and connectivity challenges impacting the industry performance.
“However, despite the challenges, the industry continues to move towards profitability following the COVID disruption and could be in the black as soon as next year. Underpinning this is the robust demand for air travel. As we saw in the second quarter of 2023 – and for two consecutive quarters – African carriers had one of the world’s highest annual passenger traffic growth rates, second only to Asia Pacific.
“With total traffic up 38.9 percent compared to the same quarter in 2022, African carriers growth outperformed the industry-wide average for total and international traffic, even though the region has not fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Q2 2023 RPKs were 9.2 percent below the same quarter in 2019.
“Despite this continued positive performance, the region still confronts economic challenges that severely limit the affordability of air travel, in addition to a range of infrastructure issues that curb capacity and hinder the development of consistent air service.”
Vanguard
