Month: August 2022

To spot Africa’s path to post-pandemic economic recovery, look to the skies: no region has more to gain by making air travel and cargo movement easier, cheaper, safer and more competitive.

Through this avenue, African leaders have a tremendous opportunity to revive their economies and create jobs for their young populations, not least through the $6 of related economic activity for every $1 value commercial aviation makes.

Africa’s commercial aviation gap

Despite this potential, Africans, 17% of the world’s population, accounted for only 3% of air passenger figures in 2019 before the coronavirus outbreak. Last year, with global air travel at just 42% of 2019 levels, Africans were only 1.9% of air passengers. Read More

Dubai’s Emirates will suspend flights to Nigeria from next month over an inability to repatriate funds from Africa’s most populous nation, the airline said on Thursday.

The decision highlights the difficulties faced by international carriers that fly to Nigeria, which is one of the biggest markets in Africa for several of them.

The country has restricted access to foreign currency for imports and for investors seeking to repatriate their profits due to a shortage of dollars. Nigeria gets about 90% of its foreign exchange from oil but is struggling to produce due to pipeline theft and years of under-investment. Read More

Geopolitical uncertainties are singled out in the latest Global Business Travel Forecast, which underscores the volatility the corporate travel industry is experiencing, and perhaps the pointlessness of trying to predict prices in the first place.

While travel prices may not spiral out of control as much as they did in 2022, many factors that impact costs will simply remain out of the hands of travel managers.

Next year could see even more price fluctuations due to geopolitical events, a new report from corporate travel agency CWT and the Global Business Travel Association has warned. Read More

Business travel is back — not to pre-pandemic levels, of course, but companies are encouraging their employees to hit the road and get real face time (not to be confused with Apple’s video calls) with vendors, partners, and potential new customers. As airlines take big steps toward a better future with investments for sustainable fuel and pay increases designed to solve the labor shortage, it’s time for the industry to focus on making a difference long before any of those business travelers arrive at the gate with better booking and service processes. Read More