adminAirways CEO Akbar Al Baker.
Speaking at the close of the International Air Transport Association meeting this week, Mr Baker expressed frustration at state-owned airlines, which he said limited the expansion of his and other Middle East airlines into Africa’s growing aviation sector.
“Those state airlines distort information to their governments to prevent us from gaining slots and/or landing rights, as they claim we will be putting them out of business,” he said.
Since 1990, South Africa’s government has supplied about R12 billion in bailouts and guarantees to South African Airways. The SAA board and top management have experienced severe turbulence in the past nine months. Mr Baker said Middle East airlines were accused of “dumping” seats, or supplying overcapacity on routes. “That is patently nonsense. We cannot be oversupplying seats if more than 80 percent of our flights (into and out of various African destination) are about 80 percent full.”
Rather, said Mr Baker, his airline often created demand where previously none had existed.
“By denying access to routes or landing slots, the African governments are denying their people huge opportunities such as job creation and opportunities to travel and trade,” he said.
Mr Baker said Qatar Airways was planning to lobby the International Monetary Fund to designate aviation as a key pillar to develop African infrastructure.
“We believe that the poor infrastructure can be substantially improved through the use of aviation,” he said.
Aviation industry commentator Linden Birns said Mr Baker’s comments could be seen as a counter-punch against legacy airlines that have struggled with the competition from fast-growing Middle East airlines.
“They have questioned how an airline can offer ticket prices 20 percent below theirs and if these fares adequately cover costs, or is it just dumping to put the established players out of business?”
As for lobbying the IMF, Mr Birns said this related to a broader issue of the role of a state-owned airline and how its effectiveness should be measured.
Meanwhile, Iata chief Tony Tyler said improving safety, cutting fuel taxes and liberalising regulation to allow for greater connectivity between African countries were some of the key issues that must be tackled.
“Too much protection is not good for airlines. There is a point where nurturing becomes overprotection,” Mr Tyler said. Taxes on aviation fuel on the continent make the fuel bill for African carriers 21 percent higher than any other region’s operators. “Government s should lift their taxation on fuel,” he said.
Iata’s latest economic forecast, released this week, shows African airlines also have the lowest load factors in the industry, below 70 percent. African carriers are expected to report a cumulative profit for this year of US$100 million.
Africa presented great growth opportunities, and air traffic was expected to grow 5 percent to 6 percent a year for the “foreseeable future”, Iata vice-president for Africa Mike Higgins said in an interview. — Businessday.
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