Despite being inhabited by 12 per cent of the world’s population, Africa accounts for just three per cent of its airline traffic. Richard Holmes investigates why Africa’s skies are comparatively empty – and what the travel industry can do about it.
Africa, fasten your seatbelts: tourism prospects may well be on the up. The Single African Air Travel Market has arrived, and could well be the game-changer that puts the continent on the global air map. Hold tight as Melissa Twigg gives us the low-down before African air travel takes off.
After years upon years of slow, non-sensical restrictions on air traffic in Africa, Mozambique has become the first to to loosen the reigns on their air policy –
and Fastjet was the first in line to cross over the border: a change which will, with luck, help pave the way towards a brighter, more convenient future for African travel.
It’s no secret that air access is a crucial driver of tourism. Happily, a clutch of international carriers are launching new routes and growing frequencies on key routes into the continent.