Technology, Africa and Public Policy


A blog that examines the overlap between all three, we'll be happy with at least two - but we've settled for less.

@tappthis

Wednesday 31 July 2013

Global flight paths


Africa still has a long way to go.  Properly implementing the Yamoussoukro Decision and liberalising the industry will go a long way to promoting low cost carriers and boosting traffic.  Some interesting things from the Open Skies for Africa World Bank report:

  • The case of Mozambique is an example of the protection of a national carrier resulting in high airfares, in effect hindering the development of tourism. Airfares between Johannesburg and Maputo, Mozambique, were 163 percent more expensive in 2006 than the fares for the same distance flown within South Africa (the example examined was Johannesburg –Darwin).
  • The Nairobi–Johannesburg route was initially liberalized in 2000 by agreeing to multiple designations of carriers and increasing daily flights from 4 to 14. The route was then fully liberalized in 2003. Following liberalization, the effect was a 69-fold increase in passenger volumes.
Overall, a study of the SADC region concluded:

"It analyzed price changes on 56 routes within SADC by running various regression analyses. The analyses concluded that air fares on liberalized routes declined by an average of 18 percent. In cases where a low-cost carrier entered the market, air fares were generally 40 percent lower than before liberalization. The overall conclusions of the study, taking the findings of the case studies into account and consolidating the results of all the regressions, was that full liberalization throughout the SADC region would increase passenger volumes by 20 percent."


Fun Fact:  Cape Town - Johannesburg is the busiest route in Africa, and the 10th busiest in the world.  






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