A continental divide in air connectivity by WOLE SHADARE (The Guardian)

GIVEN Africa’s expansive geographic area, the need to interconnect various locations in a safe, fast and efficient manner becomes ever more paramount, writes WOLE SHADARE who witnessed Arik Air’s new service to Kinshasa.
AirLINES in Africa are not effectively serving the continent’s needs. This is in part due to poor safety infrastructure and security. In addition, poor operational efficiency leads to high costs and contributes to the relative lack of connections between African cities.
The lack of direct air connectivity among several African countries despite the endorsement of the Yamoussoukro Declaration and adoption by governments in the continent is one that has worked against the continent’s air transport growth.
Few strong hubs; about three of them and three major African carriers are said to dominate international and domestic markets, which are becoming increasingly concentrated. The truth is that intercontinental traffic in the region relies heavily on the three major hubs of Johannesburg, Nairobi, and Addis Ababa.
The uneven growth patterns in Sub-Saharan Africa were caused in part by the collapse of major carriers in the western portion of the continent, most notably Air Afrique, Air Gabon, Ghana Airways, and Nigerian Airways. While these old ups brought about a short-term drop in capacity, they have also spurred a much-needed consolidation of the industry in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Major carriers in the south and the east are gradually expanding into western markets. They are taking over some of the discontinued routes, and east-west traffic is slowly growing.
The sector is equally stagnating due to the collapse of perceived strong economies in West and Central Africa, particularly, Côte d’Ivoire and the demise of several regional airlines.
Again, air travel within Africa is considerably more expensive (per mile flown) than intercontinental travel, especially on routes of fewer than 4,000 kilometers. This is because intercontinental routes serve larger markets than international or domestic ones and thus have more competition among carriers.
Domestic fares are kept artificially low by subsidized or fixed pricing on some routes, and a recent study by Intervistas for the International Air Transport Association (IATA) concluded that the price elasticity of air transport within Africa is relatively high.
Throughout Africa, policies adopted by African states allow otherwise unviable state-owned operations to have a monopoly over domestic markets.
East Africa has a more developed air travel network than West and Central Africa, where only Nigeria has a significant number of connections, both intercontinentally and internationally.
The impact of the Yamoussoukro Decision (YD) of 1999, an effort to liberalize international air travel within Africa, is best measured by the amount of fifth freedom and beyond traffic within Africa.
With the collapse of many national and regional carriers recently, West and Central Africa have suffered an absolute decline in service.
All are not lost as Arik Air is connecting both West and Central Africa at a very fast rate and has the chance of reducing difficulty faced by travellers to the areas.
Arik Air, in less than six years of operations is now reputed to be the biggest and dominant airline in West and Central Africa by number of aircraft, traffic and deep pocket of the owner.
Within the short period, the carrier is now a major player on Accra, Monrovia, Freetown, Banjul, Luanda, Dakar, Douala, Kinshasa and Johannesburg, thereby making it very easy for flight connectivity and movement of passengers in Africa.
Just on Wednesday, the carrier began service to the Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, thereby making access to the area and other neighbouring countries in the zone less cumbersome.
Many travellers and stakeholders who had been starved of air connectivity between Nigeria and DRC expressed their joy to the airline and the governments of Nigeria and DRC for finally seeing to the fruition of a deal that had been on the table for more than two years.
The joy of the people of Congo was evident with the way the airline was received shortly after flying into Kinshasa Airport. Airport workers, the media and top government officials trooped out to receive the airline on its inaugural flight, which they said opens up vista of opportunities for both nations.
Speaking to the media at a jam-packed ceremony to welcome the carrier, First Secretary, Nigerian Embassy in Kinshasa, Alhaji Ibrahim Adamu Miringa said Nigeria’s relationship with DRC had been on for over 40 years, adding, “The Embassy has been eager to have a Nigerian airline in DRC for more than two years”.
He explained that with the collapsed of Nigeria Airways, it made Nigerian businesses in the country to be handicapped, adding that some of Nigerian businessmen had relocated their businesses elsewhere because of lack of flight connections and the difficulty of transiting from Nairobi, Dubai and Addis Ababa before coming to Nigeria make businesses unattractive in the area.
His words, ‘’with the coming of Arik, it will boost Nigeria’s economy and that of DRC better than what we had”.
Speaking in the same vein, the General Sales Agent (GSA) for Arik in Kinshasa and Chairman of Sion Airlines, Bevi Gaston Mbenga told The Guardian, said the governments of both Nigeria and DRC must sustain the support it had given to the airline to make sure, ‘’We make one link because the DRC and Nigeria have been together, working together since 1962; we have got a history together; we are going through the same challenges’’.
Arik’s Vice President, Route Development (West/Central Africa), Theodore Obi Chikelu stated that the airline, with the way it’s going should be able to take 50 per cent of the market in West and Central Africa, noting that it was obvious that, ‘’We are the third largest airline in West and Central Africa and indeed, we are the fastest growing airline in the continent with the youngest fleet’’.
‘’The promise we made to the Chairman of Arik is that if we are given a free hand to apply our knowledge, if we are allowed to do the connections that we have, we should be able to develop the West Coast within a short possible time’’.

Asked why the airline was too slow at interlining with major carriers as done in other climes, Chikelu said, ‘’Remember, we have passed IOSA audit several times. We became IATA member last year. I think bilateral alliances the bigger airlines have. To go to America, we have to be category one and we are the only airline in West Africa that is category one. When you look at BA, they are in direct competition. We are looking at Emirates, an airline in Ireland. We are actually talking to Ethiopian Airline, Etihad’’.
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