Direct flights to, from and inside Africa are severely missing, with a number of key routes nonetheless unserved.
Airbus Market Intelligence and Consulting Director Geert Lemaire, talking on the AviaDev Convention in Windhoek, Namibia, advised delegates there have been a number of causes for this.
Referring to Airbus’s report on industrial aviation in Africa, ‘Exploring the horizons: A research of unserved air routes to, from and inside Africa’, Lemaire stated components akin to restrictive bilateral air service agreements, financial variables, plus challenges in capability, frequency and working cost-efficiency contributed to those routes remaining unserved.
Of the 15 ‘Prime Tier’ unserved direct routes to and from, or inside Africa, 11 beforehand had had direct flights, of which 4 routes had been nonetheless being operated up till 2022. Of the 15, ten had been intercontinental routes out and in of Africa, (three of those had been to and from South Africa – Johannesburg-Mumbai, Cape City-Brussels, Durban-London). 5 had been worldwide routes inside Africa, (Cape City-Lagos) and 10 had been intercontinental routes.
The report factors out the next unserved vacation spot which may make a substantial distinction to the aviation necessities of the South African financial system.
Johannesburg-Mumbai
The final direct flights from South Africa to India had been operated by SAA and discontinued in 2015, Acsa’s Performing Group Supervisor for Visitors Improvement, Mpho Rambau advised Journey Information in Could 2024.
“Presently, there isn’t a continuous service obtainable between all the subregion of Southern Africa and India. Furthermore, the route between the 2 cities sees substantial origin and vacation spot (O&D) site visitors ranges that surpass these of many present continuous providers to and from Africa,” says the report.
From the first transit hubs in Addis Ababa, Nairobi and Dubai, Ethiopian Airways, Kenya Airways, Emirates Airline, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways seize the vast majority of O&D site visitors on the path to Mumbai.
“The routings represent a major detour, starting from an extra 10% distance for Kenya Airways connecting site visitors by way of Nairobi, to roughly 25% for Qatar Airways’ connections by Doha,” notes the report.
The report reveals that solely 4% of the Johannesburg-Mumbai site visitors opts to fly British Airways or Virgin Atlantic by way of London, and that this itinerary distance exceeds that of a direct flight by 2,3 instances.
In accordance with the report and its projected site visitors for 2026, the route would be capable to maintain six weekly flights in a 250-seat widebody, or 5 weekly frequencies operated by a 280- to 300-seat widebody.
Cape City-Brussels
Between 2019 and 2023, O&D site visitors between Cape City and Brussels accounted for 48% South Africa’s site visitors to Brussels, adopted by Johannesburg-Brussels with 45%.
“Visitors between Brussels and Cape City has swiftly recovered from the pandemic, with ranges noticed within the interval from December 2022 to November 2023 surpassing these of the corresponding interval in 2018 and 2019 by greater than 30%,” says the report.
In accordance with Airbus, the demand for this route comes on account of the presence of about 200 Belgian corporations within the nation, and an estimated 10 000 Belgian immigrants in South Africa since 2020.
The present main transit hub for the route is by way of Johannesburg, with Air Belgium serving many of the site visitors (these flights had been terminated in November 2023). The Cape City-Johannesburg connection is served by Airlink.
Airbus’s predictions for 2026 site visitors substantiates using 4 weekly 250-seat widebody flights or three weekly 280- to 330-seat widebody flights.
Durban-London
The Durban-London route was served thrice weekly by British Airways between the tip of 2018 and was discontinued in early 2020, as a result of pandemic.
The previous direct route stimulated site visitors, encouraging common passenger site visitors of 8 200 O&D per 30 days, indicating a 30% improve from the common 6 200 passengers within the earlier yr.
Main transit hubs for this route are Dubai, Johannesburg and Doha.
“These travellers opted to attach by Center Jap hubs, leading to appreciable detours in contrast with the shorter itineraries by way of Johannesburg or Cape City,” famous the report.
Through the reference interval, Emirates operated flights to Durban from its Dubai hub, whereas Qatar Airways included Durban as a tag finish flight on its Doha-Johannesburg service. Travellers flying with British Airways or Virgin Atlantic had to make use of different carriers for the flights between Durban and Johannesburg or Cape City.
Airbus mentions Cape City to Lagos flights as a strategic connection for financial and tourism improvement, not solely bilaterally, however continentally and internationally. These African cities act as gateways for worldwide connections and a connection could facilitate elevated engagement, co-operation and change with the intercontinental market.
Historic information really confirmed a decline in site visitors between South Africa and Nigeria from 2017. Visitors shrunk at a charge of about 7,3% per yr from 2015 to 2019,” says the report. The inference is that there’s room for each Cape City-Lagos and Johannesburg-Lagos flights.
The highest 5 unserved intra-African air routes had been Dakar-Libreville, Abidjan-Douala, Abuja-Nairobi, Cape City-Lagos, and Dakar-Douala.
The highest ten unserved intercontinental routes had been Harare-London, Johannesburg-Mumbai, Lagos-New York, Lagos-Toronto, Entebbe-London, Lagos-Manchester, Cape City-Brussels, Durban-London, Nairobi-Washington DC, and Lagos-Houston.
