Aviation is a key enabler for the development of international trade and tourism for and within Africa, highlighted South African Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba in his keynote address to the forty-fourth annual general assembly of the African Airlines Association (Afraa) in Sandton, north of Johannesburg, on Monday.

Air transport was especially important because of the "vast lack" of road and rail infrastructure on the continent, he pointed out. There was "great potential" for intra-African trade.

"It has been said that the global economy has been going through extraordinarily difficult challenges," Gigaba stated. "The challenge to Africa is to seize the opportunities, as we are one of the growing regions in the world, with seven out of the ten fastest-growing economies in the world in Africa."

It was necessary, he affirmed, to strengthen intra-African trade, so as to benefit the continent and ensure collective and inclusive growth and development. "We, therefore, need to focus to ensure we use African aviation, African airlines more, to connect our countries and cities. We need to deal with the challenges of liberalisation of African skies in a manner, however, that benefits African airlines."

African countries should invest more in aviation, and the integration of the continent should be encouraged. The growing African middle-class presented opportunities for the continent's airlines.

Also speaking at the Afraa assembly, International Air Transport Association (IATA) senior VP Tom Windmuller reported that, if aviation-related tourism was included, aviation contributed $67.8-billion to Africa's gross domestic product. The African market was growing strongly with passenger traffic growth in economy class up 18% in comparison to the previous year, while business class traffic had increased 21%.

However, while some African airlines were doing well, others were not, and, on average, African airlines had made zero profits over the past four years. The problems facing the continent's airlines were safety, security, infrastructure and the regulatory and fiscal environment.

"Safety is our number one priority," asserted Windmuller. The situation in Africa was "a tale of two faces" with, on the one side, "tremendous progress in many African countries" with some countries now achieving almost world average safety rates, while, on the other, a "considerable safety gap" remained in parts of the continent. "Significant improvement is indeed possible."

Security is a global problem and, worldwide, "we need a new paradigm", he affirmed. IATA has been refining the concept of the 'checkpoint of the future' for passengers. For airfreight, "the answer is a secure supply chain. Our pilot [project] in Kenya has been a great success."

Regarding the regulatory and fiscal environment, he complained that across the continent "we see a patchwork of taxes and charges on fuel and passengers", which are often not transparent or levied in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organisation recommendations. These were damaging the African aviation industry.

Even so, prospects for African aviation remained "very bright", he assured. "If we can resolve the safety issues – and I am convinced we can – aviation will contribute to even greater growth."