The President of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Bernard Aliyu has projected that Africa airport passengers traffic may hit about 8.1billion by 2035.
Bernard said the highest growth potential with over 4.1billion passengers transported on 38million routes in 2018 alone.
He said Africa account for four percent of the global air transport and passenger traffic specifically in the African region will grow respectively by 4.3 and 2.8 per cent annually through 2035.
The ICAO president who spoke during the opening ceremony of the Aviation Infrastructure for Africa Gap Analysis Workshop on Tuesday in Abuja said that with the potential of the growth in the African Aviation industry which may be augmented through the Single Africa Air transport market, it is apparent that growth in traffic must be accompanied by commensurate investment and commitment to new and modernize airport and air navigation infrastructure.
Aliyu said “It is therefore urgent for Africa to address it’s aviation infrastructure gaps given current awareness of how air connectivity has become such a unique and indispensable catalyst for socio-economic growth on the continent.
lamenting that despite the Continent’s population growth, the potential has not translated to strong and meaningful development in the African state, he added that continued investment and development of Aviation Infrastructure, capacity and technology, rapidly expanding air traffic and enhanced air connectivity can only be sustained through a regulatory framework that is ICAO compliant and harmonised with other states and regions.
Also, Minister of State for Aviation Hadi Sirika said although aviation in Africa has created about seven million jobs and added about $725 million to Africa’s GDP, however said Africa Aviation industry is facing serious constraints in terms of infrastructure requirements to support future capacity.
He said it is due to inadequate airport capacity and air traffic management technologies and dearth of Aviation personnel
Sirika said that Africa aviation requires significant upgrade and expansion to meet the requirements of the projected growth but has to overcome the problem of insufficient access to financial resources for aviation development and modernization.
