Month: September 2022

A consortium led by Ethiopian Airlines is the preferred bidder for shares in new Nigerian airline Nigeria Air, the country’s aviation minister said on Friday.

The airline was one of President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2015 election campaign promises.

Ethiopian Airlines will own a 49% stake in the new airline, while the Nigerian Sovereign Fund will take 46% and the Nigerian federal government the remaining 5%.

Aviation minister Hadi Sirika told reporters that Buhari’s cabinet was expected to sign off on the shareholding plan in the next few weeks. Nigeria Air would have an initial capital of $300 million and plans to have 30 aircraft within four years, he said. Read More

Africa is considered the next big buyer of airplanes in the few years to come, yet there are no plane manufacturing companies operating on the continent.

Also, with the increasing number of planes on the continent, Africa continues to buy spare parts from outside the continent or fly planes across oceans to have them repaired.

Aviation experts and policy makers say, time has come for airplane manufacturers to open shop in Africa to ease the cost of running planes and also increase sales.

According to Patricia Uwase, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Infrastructure. “Africa has a lot of potential and one great untapped area is having aviation manufacturing industries on the continent. Read More

As the South African and broader African hospitality market continues to recover post-Covid-19, investment and development activity is set to ramp up as the sector evolves post its biggest ever crisis.

Industry expert Wayne Troughton, the CEO of HTI Consulting, says there are various themes and trends that are hot right now, “especially as the industry rebounds and leading players reposition themselves from a product, planning, funding and development pipeline perspective”.

Among the most notable trends for him is how the operational and investment landscape has shifted post the pandemic, how markets and products are adapting to these changes, and what the recovery and forward bookings are looking like for the upcoming season. Read More

Could this be the year that the much-anticipated African Passport is availed to ordinary citizens across the continent?

Despite the passage of numerous set deadlines, incessant delays exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic; after eight years since inception of the initiative, Africans continue to harbour hope that the African Passport nears its official distribution date, and will prove instrumental in relaxing travel restrictions, thereby breaking barriers in intra-African trade and mobility. The mass rollout is yet to materialize but is projected to happen this year. Read More