Africa Archives - Aviation metric

Air Finance: Breaking the African risk premium

Posted on March 17, 2026March 17, 2026 by Wole Shadare

With the AfDB and Afreximbank acting as the first loss guarantors, the private sector is finally finding the courage to invest in African skies, writes WOLE SHADARE For decades, the story of African aviation has been written in red ink, hampered by a risk premium that forced local carriers to pay up to 25% more for aircraft than their global peers. But as of March 2026, the script is being rewritten. A new, continent-wide financial policy…

IATA: Despite drop, Africa tops air accident rate globally

Posted on March 9, 2026 by Wole Shadare

Region recorded seven accidents in 2025, Middle East, North Africa, with one accident 51 crashes across 38.7 million flights The International Air Transport Association (IATA) 2025 Annual Safety Report, released on, confirms that the African region (AFI) recorded seven accidents during the 2025 calendar year. While this number represents a significant improvement in the regional accident rate compared to 2024, Africa continues to have the highest accident rate among global regions. The report highlights a…

Why Africa’s ‘Open Skies’ Remain Locked in the Hangar

Posted on February 24, 2026February 24, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The message from the industry is clear: Africa no longer needs more signatures; it needs schedules. Without enforcement mechanisms to hold non-compliant signatories accountable, SAATM risks becoming another paper tiger in a continent desperate for connectivity, writes WOLE SHADARE For nearly a decade, the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) has been hailed as the holy grail of African aviation—a flagship project of the AU’s Agenda 2063 designed to dismantle the restrictive bilateral walls that…

Africa’s aviation caught in ‘profitless’ growth cycle

Posted on February 10, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The phrase “more passengers” has become a bitter pill for many African airline owners. While a 6.0% surge in traffic sounds like a success story, the underlying economics of the continent act as a profit siphon, ensuring that most of that revenue never reaches the bottom line, writes WOLE SHADARE Africa’s aviation industry is defined by a striking paradox: it is home to some of the world’s fastest-growing traffic demand, yet it remains the least profitable…

How conflicts impact Africa, Middle-East global aviation profitability

Posted on January 20, 2026January 20, 2026 by Wole Shadare

Africa remains the least profitable aviation region globally. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) forecasts that African carriers will generate just $200 million in net profit in 2026—a marginal 1.3% profit margin compared to the global average of $7.90 per passenger. The conflicts in the continent and the Middle-East have the potential to do more damage to aviation profitability, writes WOLE SHADARE The continent has seen conflicts in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Libya, and…

ValueJet Unveils VIKI – Africa’s First Full-Scale Airline AI Concierge To Transform Passenger Experience

Posted on January 20, 2026January 20, 2026 by Wole Shadare

ValueJet, Nigeria’s innovative airline, has officially launched VIKI, an AI-powered digital concierge designed to transform how passengers access flight services, making it the first airline in Africa to deploy such technology at scale. VIKI is a multilingual, text- and voice-enabled AI assistant that responds verbally to voice commands, offering enhanced accessibility for visually impaired users. Through popular messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram, passengers can book and manage flights, modify reservations, check in online,…

AFCAC: Africa’s aviation sector showed resilience in 2025

Posted on January 14, 2026 by Wole Shadare

The African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC) said that, in a complex and evolving global context, the continent’s aviation industry has demonstrated resilience, cohesion, and steady progress, guided by decisions of AFCAC’s governing organs that align with the African Union (AU) integration agenda. The AFCAC’s Secretary-General, Adeyemi Adefunke, stated this at the agency’s 2025 performance report, highlighting a defining and resilient year for the continent’s aviation sector. Adefunke noted that the commission remained steadfast in its…

Skies of Promise: The Struggle Amid Africa’s Aviation Paradox

Posted on December 23, 2025December 23, 2025 by Wole Shadare

Paradoxically, a continent with some of the world’s lowest per capita incomes also has the highest aviation operating costs, operational inefficiency, and safety concerns, among others, writes WOLE SHADARE With a youth demographic boom, a burgeoning middle class, and economies eager to connect, Africa exhibits the fastest-growing demand for air travel globally. This promising development hints at boundless potential. Yet, scratch beneath the surface, and a stark paradox emerges: for all its soaring ambition, African aviation…

IATA: Africa most expensive region for airline operations in the world

Posted on December 15, 2025December 15, 2025 by Wole Shadare

..Jet fuel, taxes, others, reasons for the high cost of doing business in Africa ..Carriers operate on razor-thin net profit margin of 1.3%—the lowest globally The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has listed jet fuel at 17%, taxes and fees at between 12 and 15%, air navigation charges at 10%, maintenance, insurance and capital at 6-10%, blocked funds at $954 million and high ticket prices as the reasons the cost of doing business in Africa…

Free Route Airspace implementation in West, Central Africa begins

Posted on December 8, 2025 by Wole Shadare

The African Airlines Association (AFRAA) has ushered in a new era of African aviation with the full operational deployment of Free Route Airspace (FRA) in the Western and Central Africa (WACAF) region, effective October 30, 2025. Free Route Airspace (FRA) is a modern airspace design allowing airlines to plan more direct flight paths between entry/exit points, bypassing traditional, fixed airways for greater efficiency, fuel savings, and reduced emissions, by using User Preferred Routes (UPRs) and…

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