African air transport market has created an estimated $72. 5 billion GDP -Sirika
Oru Leonard
The African air transport market, has created an estimated $72. 5 billion Gross Domestic Product (GDP), even as it has generated a total of seven million jobs.
Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika said this on Tuesday March 19, 2019, at the Aviation Infrastructure for Africa Gap Analysis Workshop in Abuja
“The potential of aviation in Africa is enormous and it needs to be harnessed and well coordinated. Africa has over a billion people that are vast and wide that support aviation but the absence or dilapidated infrastructure is causing backwardness in the progress of the industry” he noted
He expressed confidence that the workshop would afford stakeholders the opportunity to be able to carry out the right studies and analysis to face the challenges.
On aviation infrastructure, the minister stated, “The infrastructural deficit is a lot, beginning from airports and sounds, with the facilities at the airports, the aircraft, equipment handling, etc. There is an absence of everything that makes aviation works.”
Sirika also said that stakeholders in the industry from across the world were in Abuja in November 2017 to discuss the financing of aviation infrastructure and that financial institutions, government, airport owners, airlines and others participated in the meeting.
“The outcome of that is that we should determine when we should carry out the gap analysis which will form the basis for funding of aviation infrastructure in Africa” he noted
In his speech, the President, ICAO, Olumuyiwa Aliyu, explained that Africa currently accounted for four per cent of global air transport services and had the highest potential for growth but observed that despite the large population growth, the potential had not been translated into a strong and significant development in African states.
Aliyu stated that the current global traffic figure showed that 4.1 billion passengers were transported on 38 million flights and that projections were that this would double in the next 15 years.
“Passenger and traffic specifically in the African region are expected to grow respectively by 4.3 and 3.8 per cent annually through 2035,” he stated.
He added, “When we consider the potential of this growth, it becomes apparent that growth in traffic must be accompanied by commensurate investment and commitment to the new and modernised airport and air navigation infrastructure.”
“It is, therefore, urgent for Africa to address its aviation infrastructure gaps giving current awareness of how air connectivity has become such a unique and indispensable catalyst to the socio-economic growth of this continent” he concluded.
