How to make African air transport prices affordable
ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) is a place where exchanges can lead to concrete measures. Admittedly, the organization created in Lagos on May 29, 1975 is currently in a bit of difficulty with the pseudo exclusion of 4 states located in the middle of this geographical area: Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali and Niger, all governed by military powers which, concerned about the independence of their country, have cut the ties they had with France, which, incidentally also has repercussions throughout Western Europe.
Recently, at a meeting of the civil aviation officials of the member states, 11 countries, if we remove the four that are at odds with the Organization, put the price of air tickets within the territory covered by the states at the center of their debates. And this is quite normal if we compare the rates charged to those in Europe. Here are a few examples taken on the most direct route with a one-way trip on December 10 and a return trip on December 17, 2024 in economy class: Bamako/Lomé 4h30 return flight, €891 with the company Asky – Accra/Douala 8h20 journey because there is a stopover €1,194 still with Asky – Abidjan/Dakar 5h25 flight, price €525 with Kenya Airways. And by comparison on the European routes Paris/Rome: 4 hours and 25 minutes of flight, price €66 with Ryanair or Paris/Athens in 6 hours and 50 minutes round trip for a price of €176 with Transavia or London/Athens 7 hours and 50 minutes of flight time, €114 by taking EasyJet. I chose comparable great circle distances.
Differences also exist on identical routes depending on whether you travel in the south/north direction or the other way around. Examples always taken on the same dates and in economy class: Abidjan/Paris €1,208 but Paris/Abidjan €993 with the same carrier, Air France, or Accra/London €1,466 and London/Accra €1,216 travel with British Airways.
We have to face the facts, at the same distance the rates are always more expensive, even much more expensive for Africans than for Europeans, yet the cost of living is much higher in Europe than in the ECOWAS countries.
The African air transport leaders meeting in Lomé pointed to several factors to explain these discrepancies: airport charges, air traffic control charges, various taxes imposed by governments and this is probably only the beginning of their reflection. But seen from the outside, there are other reasons why banknotes in Africa are so high.
The first is the atomization of African air transport. Apart from 4 airlines: Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways, Royal Air Maroc and Egyptair, no operator has reached the size of the airline to compete with international competition that is still very active. However, none of the four carriers named above is based in the territory covered by ECOWAS. Thus, European companies can sell at higher rates than they do elsewhere and they do not hide it, because they are not afraid of African competition. The first answer would be to create a good-sized company based in this region.
The second reason comes from the scarcity of supply. To achieve a reasonably low level of costs, operations are needed that are much denser than those available to the market. Each pair of major cities, I am thinking first of all of the economic capitals, should be served by at least 3 daily round trips and this is very far from being the case. It is not normal to take more than 6 hours to reach Douala in Lagos, 746 kilometers away. For the same distance, there are nearly 40 daily flights between Paris and Nice. The same is true between Accra and Douala, where it takes more than 4 hours to cover 1,122 km. The demand for transport is there, especially if fares fall to a reasonable level. To achieve this, we must, once again, create a real low-cost carrier in this region. Make no mistake, low-cost airlines are the only reason for the huge drop in European fares. They have also snatched up nearly half of the market and forced traditional airlines to align their fares with theirs.
And then it would be wise for the composition of the fleets to obey only economic and not political criteria. Ethiopian Airlines, although entirely owned by the Ethiopian state, has always kept its full independence in terms of its strategy and the choice of its equipment.
Africa, and more specifically this region, is a real Eldorado for air transport: a young, fast-growing, often well-educated population, little ground equipment and economic development just waiting to take off. Air transport is perhaps the essential means of ensuring this development.
