Airlines
African Air Transport Leaders Warn of Industry’s Demise
African airlines now control only 20 percent of their own market
Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam addresses ICAO’s second meeting on air cargo development in Africa. (Photo: Kaleyesus Bekele)
Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam addresses ICAO’s second meeting on air cargo development in Africa. (Photo: Kaleyesus Bekele)

Stiff competition coming from non-African carriers and failure of African states to establish a single air transport market threatens the death of the continent’s air transport industry, according to delegates at the second International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Meeting on Air Cargo Development in Africa, which started on June 27 in Addis Ababa. Among the most vocal proponent for change, Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Tewolde Gebremariam reckoned that 30 years ago African airlines carried 60 percent of the passenger traffic between Africa and the rest of the world.  Three decades later, that market share has plunged to 20 percent, leaving the rest to non-African airlines.


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