Source: The East African

More Africans taking to continent’s increasingly dangerous skies

According to a 2005 International Air Transportation Association (IATA) report, Africa has a crash rate nine times the world’s average. Though the continent has only 4 per cent of global air traffic, it accounts for more than a quarter of all air crashes. And the situation is worsening.

Between 1996 and 2005, the number of fatal crashes per million departures,, rose from 3.6 to 5. In 2006, alarmed by the grim statistics, then African Civil Aviation Commission president Tshepo Pheege threatened to name and shame airlines operating what he called “flying coffins.” “You don’t want to fly out as a passenger and come back as cargo,” he added.

Although African carriers account for more accidents than airlines on any other continent, Ethiopian Airlines, together with South African Airways and Kenya Airways, have air safety records that are similar to those of most European airlines.

However, for most airlines on the continent, maintaining good safety records is so much pie-in-the-sky. Much of the carnage is caused by low investment due to a weak local environment. African carriers transport less than a third of travellers to and from the continent and the intra-African aviation network remains weak. The continent has failed to fully implement the Yamoussoukro Declaration, which was meant to open the African airspace to African carriers, meaning that in some cases one has to connect through Europe in order to fly from one African city to another.

The results are plain to see. A tiny air transport industry that has created a total of 500,000 jobs compared with a global total of 29 million. In 2003, the average fleet age on the continent was 20 years, double the average for the rest of the world. Air navigation and proper management of the continental airspace is hindered by old and obsolete equipment and by the limited ability of some African states to maintain a national safety oversight workforce. International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) safety oversight audits have shown that many African countries have not established effective oversight systems within the Civil Aviation Authorities.

All this comes at a time when the number of Africans willing and able to fly is exploding. A 2008 IATA report shows that while the growth in international passenger numbers was a sluggish 0.7 per cent, Africa’s internal passenger growth was 18 per cent. This cocktail of factors is making for a lethal recipe. As the skies get ever more crowded, overwhelmed and understaffed authorities are struggling to cope.

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