‘Aviation Sector Will Fetch Nigeria $100 Million In 2015’

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has projected that African airlines, including those in Nigeria, will return a profit of $100 million (N20 billion) in 2015, a report by the association has stated.

The report, which examines the impact of liberalised air transport for Nigeria and 11 other major African economies, said that the forecast profit would be on a net profit margin of 0.8 per cent, the thinnest of all aviation regions in the world.

IATA’s Vice President for Africa, Raphael Kuuchi, said: “African airlines are expected to return a profit of just $100 million in 2015, on a net profit margin of 0.8 per cent the thinnest of all aviation regions. While other regions are experiencing robust growth this year, demand for air travel within the regulatory-constrained intra-African market is only expected to grow by 3.2 per cent this year.

“Smarter regulation, giving African carriers greater access to all intra-African markets, would stimulate competition and with it demand for travel as businesses and traders were able to expand into that market. The net result in much stronger growth, not only for the airlines, but for the economies of those countries that embrace the ‘open skies’ framework.” The 12 nations studied in the report were: Nigeria, Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia and Uganda.

“Employment and economic growth are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the benefits of connectivity-aviation plays a major role in helping to fulfill the African Union’s mission of an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa.”Kuuchi said.

The Yamoussoukro Decision of 1999 committed 44 signatory countries to deregulating air services and to opening regional air markets to transnational competition.