Africa beats the drum for aviation opportunity.

Africa has some of the fastest growing GDPs in the world and is beating the drum for opportunity, as we found out this week at Aviation Africa.

Although it has1.3 billion people and 16% of the world’s population, Africa only captures around 2.5%  of the world’s air travellers. However, with annual average growth of more than 4% and air transport playing a vital role in the continent’s development, it is no wonder that the industry flocked to the Aviation Africa show to help fill that gap.

Single market

Rwanda’s President, Paul Kagama, opened the event and reiterated calls for a Single African Air Transport Market which he said will, among other things, eliminate challenges of geography.

Government ministers, air chiefs and regulators came from all over Arica, but it was a visitor from the Middle East that caused the biggest stir. The Chairman of IATA and the CEO of Qatar Airways group, Akbar al Baker, was a keynote speaker and called for a major shift by African airlines and ending protectionism.

“The old model of vested interests has not produced good results for Africa or anywhere else,” he said.

Watch the video for more announcements and takeaways from the show.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter