The African aviation industry is one with potential, but requires urgent intervention, according to multiple stakeholders at the ongoing Aviation Africa Summit. The summit has convened over 600 delegates from over 60 countries. On the sidelines of the summit, The New Times’ Collins Mwai spoke to Abdullah Al-Sayed, the chairman and founder of NEXUS Group, which has interest in the Rwandan and African aviation sector. Al-Sayed spoke on some of the missed opportunities, avenues of growth, as well as reduction of losses in the sector. Below are excerpts: What have been some of the missed opportunities in the African aviation sector that stakeholders ought to give attention to at the moment to spur development in the sector? Almost all African countries have a unique set of aviation regulations and this hinders smooth collaborations. We need to create more partnerships at the strategic and operational levels to improve aviation safety. It is important to implement the lessons learned from other regions of the world that have already experienced rapid expansion. At the moment, African airlines are trying to play catch up with international airlines which are far more developed and rake in more profits. What are some of the ways in which African airlines can get ahead? To be competitive, African airlines and their destinations and economies need to ensure excellent customer service, improve efficiency, and continue developing value propositions for travel, trade and tourism. Overcoming challenges such as political uncertainty, market turbulence, and rising costs is critical to ensure success. The continent continues to register huge losses in the airline industry, what’s your advice on changing this? The entire value chain in the industry must work together to ensure safety, reduce costs, and create hospitable visa and immigration programmes. This also requires leaders to address and reduce the impact on climate change and establish stable, safe and secure environments. There are plans to liberalise the African airspace through the Single African Air Transport Market initiative to improve operating conditions for African airlines and ease movement of people across the continent. What are some of the benefits you foresee? Liberalisation will bring about strong outcomes with new routes, more frequent flights, better connections and lower fares. These improvements will increase the number of passengers, which will improve trade, business travel and tourism. Since the debut of NEXUS into the Rwandan market, what has been your firm’s experience in regards to opportunities and growth? We strategically placed our fully-equipped state-of-the-art flight operations centre in the heart of Africa to meet the needs of clients throughout the continent and beyond. The opportunities are many as we are experts in ensuring safety, security, and outstanding customer service. At the moment, what activities and operations is Nexus involved in the Rwandan aviation sector? We currently provide a comprehensive suite of solutions for all aviation needs such as world-class training programmes, specialised security services, and flight dispatch and handling. The growth in aviation in Africa is predicted to soar over the next 20 years, even though at the moment, Africa accounts for less than 2 per cent of the global air service market, according to the World Bank. There is great potential here. What are some of the key issues at the summit from your firm’s point of view that would spur development of the regional aviation sector? Total systems safety via integrated safety management systems software is important, so regional leaders and authorities can provide effective safety oversight. Drone operator certification is important so the region can safety leverage the resources of numerous drone operators to deliver much needed supplies to remote areas and also provide innovative solutions with remotely piloted aircraft. WYVERN and NEXUS offer state-of-the-art solutions for both endeavours. As a participant of the previous summit, what were some of the key outcomes from the summit and developments over the last one year that emerged from the meeting? Since the last summit, we established the NEXUS Academy and offer courses in almost all of the aviation industry specialisations. Our instructors are industry leaders, with decades of real-world experience in the aviation industry. Their focus is on understanding the ambitions of each of our students, while guiding them to their true potential. editorial@newtimesrwanda.com
