Air Transport in Africa

Ethopian airways. Image credit financialgazette.co.zw

• Africa’s air transport is poorly organised at both the international and regional levels for the movement of passenger and freight.
• Whilst global passenger and freight traffic have been growing annually, Africa’s situation is one where volumes are dwindling, trips per week are declining, airlines and routes closing down, reducing Africa’s contribution to international air travel.
• These reasons are more or less the same as with other forms of transport which include poverty, political instability and misunderstanding leading the list.
• Problems are that each country has its own airline which it is protecting despite the fact that regional political and economic groupings such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have been formed.
• The noble goal of integration of nations within geographic regions is not being fulfilled in air travel.
• If anything, one finds that countries singly or jointly are linking or attaching their airlines with those of their former colonial masters.

To access more topics go to the O Level Geography Notes page