The aviation sector is in a squeeze The COVID-19 pandemic has been with us for almost two years and has disrupted our way of living and economies around the world.
The aviation sector which employs millions of people and acts as the heart of international business and leisure has been adversely affected.
The airline industry as a whole is struggling to be above water with airlines, airports and ground handling firms in despair as revenue lines dry up.
African airlines have not been spared and have also been hard hit per the scenarios below:
• Ethiopian Airlines lost USD550million in revenues because of international flight restrictions in the first 6 months of COVID-19 pandemic
• RwandAir slashed 65 per cent of staff salaries to cut down on losses
• Air Namibia suspended flights and entered liquidation early 2021
• Late 2020, South African Airways (SAA) auctioned inflight service items such as toothpicks, chopsticks, ear plugs, raincoats etc to stay afloat
• Royal Air Maroc laid off 140 staff including pilots and cabin crew in 2020
• Creditors of Air Seychelles wanted to shut down airline early this year
• Air Mauritius was placed in voluntary administration at the start of the pandemic• Kenya Airways lost an estimated $330million in revenues in 2020 as passenger numbers dropped by 65.7 per cent.• Egypt Air required a $130million loan from the Egyptian government to sustain its operationsThe above is just but a sample of the turbulence that African airlines have suffered for nearly two years.The International Air Transport Association (IATA) in its latest economic forecast indicate airlines this year are expected to lose $51.8 billion and will lose a total of $200billion between 2020 and 2022.Obviously aside from God’s intervention, the situation looks bleak, but what should African airlines do to minimise the negative effects of the pandemic? Practical Steps Going Forward • African airlines need to have a fair mix of passenger and cargo/freight fleets. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, cargo demand has risen dramatically because of the need for vaccine deliveries, repatriation flights and increased e-commerce uptake.Thus, airlines such as Qatar, Ethiopian, Emirates and Turkish who have a good air cargo capacity are the ones to sail above the stormy waters.RwandAir and Kenya Airways have also made progress on the cargo front but not as much as Ethiopian!• African airlines must buy aircraft that can be easily converted to cargo at very short notice.Airbus claims that the […]