African aviation investment needed to boost wider economies

At an International Air Transport Association (IATA) African Aviation Day in Abuja recently, the IATA called on African governments to prioritise the development of aviation nationally and at a pan-African level to bolster economic growth and development. Africa is set to be one of the fastest-growing aviation regions during the next 20 years, with annual expansion averaging nearly 5%. This opens up incredible economic opportunities for the continent’s 54 nations. By transporting some 70 million passengers annually, aviation already supports some 6.9 million jobs and $80bn of economic activity on the African continent. “Aviation has the potential to be a much greater strategic catalyst for growth if governments would stop milking the industry for taxes and enable it with smarter regulations focused on safety and the development of connectivity. The commitments are already there with the Abuja Declaration and the Yamoussoukro Decision. It’s time to achieve them in partnership with industry,” said Hussein Dabbas, IATA’s regional vice-president for Africa and the Middle East.hide“Enhanced air transport connectivity is unarguably the key condition for any state’s progress and transformation. Studies have shown there is clear correlation between connectivity and economic performance. In addition, improved connectivity attracts inward investment, which enables access to export markets and opens countries up to competitive forces. Air transport is a facilitator of international business and trade. Improved connectivity means more access to cities, markets, business and people, as well as the integration into global supply chains – an important factor for attracting inward investment into any country,” said Nigeria’s minister for aviation, Hadi Abubakar Sirika. The IATA meeting came in the wake of the EgyptAir crash off the Egyptian coast, which killed all 66 people on board. The authorities have yet to say what caused the Airbus A320-232 to plummet from its 37,000ft cruising altitude. Forensic experts are now examining the wreckage and recovered body parts in an attempt to confirm or deny that an explosion occurred on board the plane. Neither deliberate sabotage nor a technical fault can be ruled out at this stage. Assuming an explosion is to blame, the next step will be to ascertain whether it was caused by a terrorist attack. “Aviation security experts have reviewed the facts surrounding the incident and early opinions suggest it was indeed a terrorist incident,” said Adewale Akinwale, head of enterprise risk management at Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHC). Modern cargo handling processes make it virtually impossible to smuggle explosives on board an aircraft without rogue acts by airport operatives. Large international airports have safety programmes and processes to ensure that passengers are not able to bring explosives on board and their cargo facilities rely on modern explosive trace detector machines, which are able to detect small traces of explosives. How should risk management teams at airlines and airport companies react to the EgyptAir disaster, especially given the cause of the crash is unclear? Should they proceed on the assumption that the crash was a result of a terrorist attack? “Risk managers need to step up their insider risk awareness and detection programmes,” said Mr Akinwale. “The US Transport Security Administration has expended resources towards insider risk training programmes across all airports with flights to American cities, specifically to counter the actions of rogue airport operatives.” EgyptAir is a client of NAHC, which conducted an IATA Safety Audit for ground operations process at its Abuja station a couple of days prior to the incident. “Our interaction with EgyptAir officials confirmed that they observe and promote the highest aviation safety procedures – we therefore hope that investigators can find the root cause of the process failure that led to this unfortunate incident and that all stakeholders can learn from it and further fortify their safety and security systems,” said Mr Akinwale. From a risk management perspective, ground handlers need to be extremely careful about the content of hold cargo, passenger bags and carry-on luggage. The most sensible solution is to adopt ‘best practice’ security procedures in an attempt to avert terrorist attacks; but it is almost impossible to reach a position where all forms of terrorist-related risks are mitigated. “If this incident is confirmed as a terrorist attack then it would be expedient for multinational organisations to reconsider their air transport plans in north Africa and especially Egypt,” concluded Mr Akinwale.

African aviation investment needed to boost wider economies

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