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Africa's aviation industry facing an unprecedented challenge

The pandemic caused unprecedented difficulties for the aviation industry. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

Africa’s aviation sector has been impacted as severely as any global region by the pandemic but some airlines have taken measures to mitigate the effects of this downturn

A significant drop in travel led to the grounding of approximately two-thirds of the global airline fleet at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in April 2020. The African Airlines Association (AFRAA) reported in July 2021, that air passenger traffic is estimated to fallen to less than 43% of the level of the same month in 2019. Although, the one encouraging statistic in AFRAA’s report was that domestic markets across Africa continue to outperform intra-Africa and intercontinental at 64% – compared to 22.9% for intra-Africa and 13.1% for intercontinental.

The pandemic’s impact has not been evenly felt by all airlines in the continent. Africa’s three biggest airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, South African Airlines and Kenya Airways have had three very different experiences.

In the latest issue of African Review, Stephen Williams tracks the experiences of these airlines: www.africanreview.com/current-issue

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