{"id":17611,"date":"2011-02-24T11:27:29","date_gmt":"2011-02-24T10:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/afrique-laerien-en-voie-de-maturite-20110224.html"},"modified":"2016-02-10T09:56:15","modified_gmt":"2016-02-10T08:56:15","slug":"laerian-africa-coming-of-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/en\/laerian-africa-coming-of-age","title":{"rendered":"Africa, air travel on the road to maturity"},"content":{"rendered":"

If ever there was a continent where airlines could expand and conquer new markets, it's Africa. With its vast territory and sometimes unpredictable land infrastructure, air travel is the fastest and safest way to get from one city to another. Particularly as, far from the images of famine and political instability that still regularly dominate television screens around the world, another Africa is emerging, that of a continent with the most promising economic and demographic potential. An Africa where air transport has its place.<\/p>\n

Since 2000, growth in the continent's gross domestic product has fluctuated between 5 % and 6 % on average per year, representing a total GDP estimated at over 1,600 billion dollars in 2008. Admittedly, growth slowed in 2010 - African GDP grew by \"only\" 4.5 % - but most economists are predicting a rapid return to pre-crisis performance. Africa is rich in raw materials and, as a result, is attracting investors from all over the world, particularly China. Demographically, the number of Africans has doubled in less than thirty years, reaching one billion in 2009. By 2050, the UN estimates that this figure could double again to 1.9 billion.<\/p>\n

At present, Africa by air accounts for just over 40 million passengers a year, or 6 % of the total number of passengers carried worldwide.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

There is increasing talk of an African economic miracle, with Mthuli Ncube, chief economist at the African Development Bank (ADB), estimating last July that one in three Africans was now part of an emerging middle class.
\"We don't talk enough about the African middle class. They are also consumers and they aspire to the same symbols of social progress. They want mobile phones, they want to send their children to the best schools and they want to travel\".<\/em>he said in an interview with the British weekly Observer.<\/p>\n

Still of little importance on a global scale, Africa by air accounts for just over 40 million passengers a year, or 6 % of the total number of passengers carried worldwide, measured in passenger revenue\/km. But this situation is set to change in the next few years. For the past decade, Africa has been recording growth rates in air transport of between 7.5 % and 10 % a year. Although 2008 and 2009 - years of recession - saw declines in traffic, the trend remains fundamentally positive. The American aircraft manufacturer Boeing estimates that air transport in Africa should grow by an average of 6.4 % over the next twenty years, with an estimated market of some 700 new aircraft.<\/p>\n

\"ImageSharp competition<\/strong><\/span>
<\/strong>All the more reason, therefore, to attract a great deal of interest, particularly from foreign carriers. After all, the continent's air services are still very atypical compared with the rest of the world. Traffic is still the preserve of a constellation of small carriers, few of which have achieved the critical mass needed to compete internationally. A large number of countries have national airlines whose fleets are sometimes made up of one or two aircraft! Admittedly, there are a few regional behemoths such as South African Airways, Egyptair, Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines and the Maghreb airlines (Air Alg\u00e9rie, Royal Air Maroc and Tunisair), to which we can add a few carriers that are now enjoying a certain reputation, such as Air Madagascar, Afriqyiah Air (Libya) and Air Mauritius.<\/p>\n

It is probably the absence of major carriers in West Africa that is most surprising. It would seem that this part of the continent has never fully recovered from the demise of Air Afrique, in which eleven states were shareholders, and no worthy successor has so far been able to take over from the company which went bankrupt at the beginning of 2002, giving rise to the birth of micro-companies with very uncertain life expectancies. In 2009, Senegal, one of the most important business and tourism markets in West Africa, saw the bankruptcy of Air S\u00e9n\u00e9gal International, its national airline, which for a time had been a subsidiary of Royal Air Maroc. It took more than a year for its successor, Senegal Airlines, to take off with the financial backing of Emirates Airlines.<\/p>\n

Other carriers such as Air Gabon, Cameroon Airlines and Nigeria Airways have suffered similar fates to Air Afrique and Air S\u00e9n\u00e9gal, the former being replaced in 2006 by the privately-owned Gabon Airlines, while the latter should finally have a successor in April 2011 with Camairco.<\/p>\n

In Nigeria, Arik Air, which has taken over part of the assets of Nigeria Airways, is emerging as a major new player in African transport. The airline carried more than six million passengers between 2002 and 2010 and has a fleet of 26 aircraft, including Boeing B737-800s and Airbus A330s and A340s. It serves nearly thirty cities, nine of which are international, including London and New York.<\/p>\n

Yet the small size of most African airlines means that local governments have no room for manoeuvre when it comes to negotiating on an equal footing with the rest of the world. According to AFRAA, the International Association of African Airlines, the market share of African carriers in international traffic was only 22 % in 2009, down three points on 2005! Also according to AFRAA, intercontinental traffic accounted for only 45 % of the total traffic of the 19 members of the association in 2009. This figure is likely to fall further in the face of the offensive by European and Gulf airlines.<\/p>\n

For the vacancy of African airlines represents a godsend for foreign airlines, particularly European ones. For decades, the Europe-Africa route was de facto dominated by a French-speaking trio: Belgium's Sabena, France's UTA and Swissair. These three protagonists have since been replaced by Brussels Airlines for Sabena, Swiss for Swissair and Air France for UTA. But the dominance of the latter still holds, even if the competition has become tougher. Over the last few years, Lufthansa, British Airways, TAP Portugal and Iberia have all strengthened their positions on the continent in the face of juicy growth prospects.<\/p>\n

Africa is also being courted by a number of so-called 'secondary' airlines that have successfully positioned themselves in niche markets. In France, a pioneer on the France-Algeria route, Aigle Azur has also integrated Bamako and Ouagadougou, in partnership with local airlines.
\"There is real potential for development and we are working to boost traffic on these routes\".<\/em>Virgin Atlantic is also present on five cities on the African continent, including Accra, Lagos, Nairobi and South Africa. Until recently, Richard Branson's airline also had a subsidiary in Nigeria, Virgin Nigeria Airways, which was sold to new investors in 2009 following political setbacks. Another player, Bmi, serves four African destinations from London Heathrow.<\/p>\n

\"ImageAir France-KLM still dominates<\/strong><\/span>
<\/strong>Air France-KLM remains the leading carrier in terms of frequencies and destinations to Africa. According to OAG, a firm specialising in air capacity, the Franco-Dutch duo offered 350 weekly frequencies to 42 destinations in summer 2010, well ahead of the Lufthansa group (251 frequencies to 34 destinations) and British Airways-Iberia (163 frequencies to 21 destinations).<\/p>\n

Today, the competition is essentially between the Air France and Lufthansa groups. First and foremost the French carrier, which has been present in Africa for 75 years and was a pioneer on the continent with the introduction of the Boeing 747 in the 1970s and, since 2010, the Airbus A380. As Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, CEO of Air France-KLM, pointed out last February at the launch of the super-jumbo on the Paris-Johannesburg route, Air France is the first airline to have launched a service to Africa on the world's largest aircraft.<\/p>\n

\"The Airbus A380 enables us to handle a large volume of traffic in total comfort, while significantly reducing our operating costs\".<\/em>he explained at the inauguration. In 2009\/2010, the Africa-Middle East zone accounted for more than 5.5 million passengers for Air France-KLM, the equivalent of 14 % of capacity deployed by the group. The Africa network would even be one of the most profitable for the national carrier. According to a confidential document revealed to the public last July by the daily Le Figaro, the routes offering the highest profit margins for Air France are all in Africa, with Paris-Luanda (Angola) and Paris-Libreville (Gabon) at the top of the hit parade.<\/p>\n

Anticipating the competitive offensive, Air France and KLM significantly increased their offer during the 2010\/2011 winter season, up 4 % compared with the previous winter season.<\/p>\n

Air France is obviously pampering its African customers. This winter, the new Air France Premium Voyageur product will be fitted on 95 %s to African destinations served by wide-body aircraft. In addition, Air France is offering its Dedicate service on certain destinations, designed to meet the needs of oil industry professionals and available to Malabo (Equatorial Guinea), Nouakchott (Mauritania), N'Djamena (Chad) and Port Harcourt (Nigeria).<\/p>\n

Anticipating the competitive offensive, Air France and KLM significantly increased their offer during the 2010\/2011 winter season, up 4 % compared with the previous winter season.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Air France has inaugurated service to Bata, in Equatorial Guinea, from Paris CDG, while KLM is now landing in Kigali (Rwanda), via Entebbe. This offensive will continue in summer 2011 with the launch of new services from the French capital to Freetown (Sierra Leone), Monrovia (Liberia) and Tripoli (Libya), a route already operated from Amsterdam by KLM. Capacity increases have also been introduced this winter to Dar Es Salaam and Kilimanjaro in Tanzania by KLM and Malabo, Libreville and Pointe Noire (Republic of Congo) by Air France. Partnership agreements between the Franco-Dutch duo also benefit passengers who can fly on partners of the group, such as Kenya Airways and Comair (South Africa).<\/p>\n

Top ten carriers operating from Africa<\/strong><\/span>
(in number of seats - March 2010)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Image<\/em><\/p>\n

The Lufthansa Group expands its product range<\/strong><\/span>
<\/strong>For years, Air France has enjoyed a virtual monopoly on many destinations, but this monopoly could be seriously eroded in the next few years. The German group Lufthansa has made no secret of its ambition to compete with the French airline on its own turf, and has set its sights on the African continent. This offensive was boosted by the acquisition in 2009 of Brussels Airlines, one of the most active airlines to Africa. \"We are the heirs to the Sabena network, to which many passengers - African or otherwise - remain very attached. This airline has always symbolised Africa's openness to the outside world (...). We are cultivating this capital of sympathy today\", explains Bernard Gustin, Co-Chairman of Brussels Airlines.<\/p>\n

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Typical passenger profile on Air France's Africa network<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
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Lufthansa is stepping up its efforts to attract customers in this key area of its global expansion strategy. The airline has launched a website dedicated to the Africa network, which has also been translated into French. It is multiplying cooperation agreements, such as recently with Ethiopian Airlines for East Africa, while strengthening its position in West and Central Africa. On Nigeria alone, Lufthansa increased its capacity by 40 % in 2009 with flights to Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt. Frankfurt-Pointe Noire, with a stopover in Libreville, is the most recent route launched by the group. Swiss, another Lufthansa subsidiary, has also increased its frequencies to Douala and Yaound\u00e9 in Cameroon.<\/div>\n
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But the cornerstone of its conquest of Africa by air remains Brussels Airlines. In July, the Belgian airline inaugurated Airbus A330-300 flights to Accra (Ghana), Cotonou (Benin), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) and Lom\u00e9 (Togo), bringing to 18 the number of destinations in its African portfolio.
\"Being specialists in Africa means offering an exclusive product, both in flight and on the ground, which meets the specific expectations of our African customers\".<\/em>says Bernard Gustin. An area dedicated to flights to the African continent has been created at Brussels airport, with a lounge reserved exclusively for Business passengers. To make its network even more attractive, particularly through intra-African connections, Brussels Airlines wants to invest in a local regional airline in West Africa.
\"It would ensure a high level of service quality, which is an essential criterion for our passengers\".<\/em>With all these new destinations, the Lufthansa group is continuing its conquest of Africa, offering this winter a network of 39 cities served by 269 weekly flights.<\/div>\n
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On the other side of the Channel, British Airways is also capitalising on the growth of the African market. Its Africa network is still under-represented, accounting for just under 10 % of its total revenues. But the British carrier plans to increase the number of direct flights from London, according to its CEO Willie Walsh, as tourism to the continent picks up. TAP is also a challenger. The Portuguese carrier's Africa network has undergone remarkable diversification over the past year. TAP now serves 11 cities on the continent, the most recent of which are Algiers and Marrakech. The major airline alliances could also play a key role in stimulating African air transport. And it is Star Alliance that is leading the way. The world's leading alliance in terms of the number of members (27) includes the continent's two leading airlines in terms of frequencies and seats offered: South African Airways and Egyptair. Star has thus contributed to the consolidation of two major hubs: the first, covering Southern Africa, in Johannesburg; the second in Cairo for the whole of North Africa and the Middle East. In both cases, the alliance offers its passengers modern terminals and airlines renowned for their quality of service. From 2012, the alliance will integrate the Ethiopian Airlines network. From its base in Addis Ababa - an airport with growth rates of over 30 % per year! - Ethiopian currently connects some fifty cities, including around thirty in Africa.<\/div>\n
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\n\"ImageWatermark alliances<\/strong><\/span>
These three airlines are experiencing very strong growth rates on intra-African routes, where the lack of ground connections is felt the most. Ethiopian Airlines in particular is developing its connecting traffic on an East-West route, a positioning it shares with Kenya Airways, another African heavyweight that has been associated with SkyTeam for several years. Kenya Airways serves a network of 51 cities worldwide and more than 40 in Africa. Most recently, Nampula, a city in northern Mozambique, and Malindi, on the Kenyan coast. This winter, the airline also launched services to Rome, its fourth destination in Europe.<\/div>\n
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According to Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, there are no immediate plans to integrate new African carriers into SkyTeam, although negotiations remain open, particularly with airlines from North Africa. A few years ago, it was rumoured that Tunisair and Royal Air Maroc were well placed on the list of potential candidates to join the alliance created by Air France-KLM, Delta and Korean Air, among others. Tunisair already benefits from a highly advanced cooperation agreement with Air France, while there has also been talk of the Moroccan airline joining Oneworld, sponsored by Iberia. Such a development would signal that Africa's airlines are well and truly entering the era of globalisation.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n