Aviation has created 7m jobs, $725m in Africa’s GDP

The Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has said aviation in Africa has created about seven million jobs and added about $725 million to Africa’s GDP .

Sirika said the Africa Aviation industry was facing serious constraints in terms of infrastructure requirements to support future capacity. 

At the opening ceremony of the Aviation Infrastructure for Africa Gap Analysis Workshop Wednesday in Abuja, the minister said it is due to inadequate airport capacity and air traffic management technologies and dearth of Aviation personnel

Sirika stressed 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.

He said it is due to inadequate airport capacity and air traffic management technologies and dearth of Aviation personnel.

According to ICAO President Bernard Aliyu, Africa has the highest growth potential with over 4.1billion passengers transported on 38million routes in 2018 alone, he said it has been projected that passenger traffic may hit about 8.1billion passenger by 2035.

He said that Africa account for 4percentof the global air transport and passenger traffic specifically in the African region will grow respectively by 4.3 and 2.8percent annually through 2035.

The Secretary General of The African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC) Papa Asuma Fall mentioned that air navigation system are critical infrastructure gaps that must be addressed in other to become competitive in the global aviation industry

He said ” there is need for significant effort in air navigation expansion and upgrading programs in other to accommodate growth in passenger and cargo activities, gradually rehabilitate existing facilities and support aircraft technological advancement.

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