Vijay Poonoosamy, a Tourism Hero Award Holder, Chairman of the World Tourism Network Aviation Group, Barrister, Partner with Dentons Mauritius, was the moderator of the lively, engaging, insightful, and productive panel “From air space to aero political issues and everything in between. How Africa is rising to the challenge” at the Aviation Africa Summit in Johannesburg on Tuesday 17 September 2024 with:
- Ms. Poppy Khoza, Director General South Africa CAA
- Capt. Gilbert Kibe, Managing Director, Air Transport Consulting
- Mr. Barry Kashambo, Consultant, Aviation Safety Alliance for Africa
Vijay Poonoosamy’s remarks.
Setting the Scene
Over the next twenty years, IATA expects world passenger numbers to increase by 3.8% per year on average, resulting in over 4 billion additional passenger journeys in 2043 compared to 2023. IATA expects the African aviation market to see a 3.7% rise in demand per year but warned that infrastructure and connectivity challenges dampen the African airline industry’s expansion and performance.
Our continent’s population is expected to double by 2050, reaching 2.5 billion people, offering massive opportunities and even more massive challenges. This will also exacerbate the poor air connectivity between Africa and the rest of the world and even poorer intra-African air connectivity. It will also compound our governance, oversight, infrastructure, and issues.
Left: Vijay Poonoosamy with Rwanda Infrastructure Minister of State Olivier Kabera at the Africa Aviation Summit in Johannesburg.
Middle: Vijay Poonoosamy with Professor John Lamola, SAA Interim Chief Executive Officer, at the African Aviation Summit in Johannesburg.
Right: Vijay Poonoosamy with Poppy Khoza, the first woman Director of Civil Aviation of South Africa, and a member of the panel.
Key Take Aways
“Absolute need for genuine engagements, immediate effective Actions and Governance for results-driven Oversight.”
“All African Aviation Stakeholders ≈and work diligently and intelligently together to effectively promote safe, secure, sustainable, and viable passenger and cargo air connectivity within, to, and from Africa.”
“The African Union and the African Civil Aviation Commission must endeavor to understand and address all the concerns of the relevant African Aviation Stakeholders to allow for the long overdue implementation of SAATM and other African Union decisions which will promote air connectivity, travel, trade and tourism within, to and from Africa. These concerns include protecting national carriers from overbearing or unfair competition, fear of losing tax revenues, air connectivity, poor governance, poor regulatory oversight, lack of competent human resources, and poor infrastructure on the ground and in the air.”
“African States must empower the African Union and the African Civil Aviation Commission to deliver on the mandates they were given to promote safe, secure, sustainable and viable passenger and cargo air connectivity within and from Africa.”
“African States must develop and implement initiatives to enable Africa to take off and develop and implement initiatives to enhance the effectiveness of the African Union, and it will undoubtedly help if they each had a Minister and Ministry dedicated to Africa.”
