AFRICA SHOULD EMBRACE RACE FOR CONTINENT’S AIRSPACE

The recent moves by African airlines to gain a competitive edge in the aviation industry should be welcomed with open arms by all players in the airspace business.

Air Tanzania, Uganda Airlines and RwandAir have continued to invest more in the aviation space and have sought to strike deals with some international stakeholders with goals of gaining a firmer foothold in the fast-growing aerospace sector.

For example, at the just-concluded 2021 Dubai Air Show, we saw how Tanzanian and Uganda airlines signed lucrative and strategic deals to rival traditional regional forces – Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines.

These planned moves have come at an opportune time for the East African players considering that Kenya’s KQ and Ethiopian Airlines are currently grappling with financial and political upheavals that have destabilised their aviation business, giving room to Tanzania and Uganda to gain ground.

With the Tanzanian government looking to benefit from the billions of shillings that have so far been invested in the aviation sector, this newfound gateway to more aviation revenue should not be wasted.

As projections by the Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) indicate in the avenue of revenue collection, the company that is running the national carrier projects to yet again make losses. But maybe these foreseen losses can be minimized if the government fully utilizes the awakened interest in Africa’s airspace business by creating firm strategies that will ensure Air Tanzania features among the top carriers in Africa.

The resumption of Air Tanzania flight to Nairobi this week is a major boost to the growing aviation sector in the country as ATCL looks to expand its tentacles to other destinations. One of the carrier’s growth plans includes having a wide fleet and routes to other regions in Africa and beyond the continent at a time when national carriers from other countries are seeing a retraction. This gives Tanzania a window of opportunity to leverage the void that exists in the aviation sector.

The potential that lies ahead for ATCL is promising and if well utilised can lead to a major turnaround for the company that has been running at a loss for many years despite massive investment.

The awakened interest in Africa’s aviation can also be used as an opportunity to tap into broader markets in Europe, North America, and Asia.

For years the African aviation industry has paled in comparison to its much wider, more advanced Asian and European markets, leading to minimal focus on the African market by international travellers. But now, with the Covid-19 pandemic, the tide has shifted and we are seeing a more robust African aviation industry that is keen to expand and advance its operations.

With Tanzania and other countries like Rwanda and Uganda leading the new wave of change, consistency in implementing growth plans will be the backbone to success. Governments need to ensure that unnecessary bureaucracies do not derail the sector’s positive trajectory, but also that the growth trickles down to all players in the aviation industry.

By making full use of the rise of the sky wars in Africa, ATCL stands a unique chance to establish itself as one of the continent’s leading national carrier companies.