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New study highlights unserved air routes to boost African connectivity
Airbus has released a new study highlighting several unserved air routes within Africa. These routes, the study suggests, could significantly improve travel connections for passengers, stimulate economic growth in local regions, and generate substantial revenue for airlines. The study builds on data from Airbus's latest Global Market Forecast (GMF).
Source: Free-Photos via Pixabay
Several of the top unserved routes identified in the analysis are concentrated in cities such as Lagos, Cape Town, Nairobi, Dakar, and Douala. Airbus also touched on strategic recommendations to capitalise on the opportunities of a more connected continent as well as Airbus’ capabilities to help realise this potential.
Identifying critical routes
"Despite significant traffic between certain city pairs, some identified routes still lack regularly scheduled non-stop flights. Factors such as restrictive bilateral air service agreements, economic variables, and challenges with capacity, frequency and operating cost efficiency contribute to these routes remaining unserved," said Geert Lemaire, market intelligence and consulting director, Airbus.
“With our capacity to make analyses about route and network development potential in-house, Airbus remains committed to partnering with airlines across Africa to identify optimised fleet solutions in line with network development requirements that further stimulate the continent’s air transport industry growth and improve connectivity for travellers.”
Growth and forecast
The forecast, meanwhile, predicts a 4.1% growth overall in air traffic over the next 20 years, resulting in an anticipated need for 1,180 new aircraft by 2043. Meanwhile, the continued growth of the aviation sector in Africa is expected to result in 3.3% real GDP growth on the continent, well above the 2.6% global average.
This growth is ratified by data from Airbus’ Global Services Forecast, which estimates that Africa will need to introduce 15,000 more pilots, 20,000 technicians and 24,000 cabin crew to meet the surge in air travel demand.
