Our good friend and revered African Aviation Analyst, Mr. Sean Mendis, pens his thoughts for VoyagesAfriq as he reviews the aviation sector in Africa during 2023.
Excerpts are highlighted below.
"The specter of pandemic-related restrictions no longer cast a shadow on air traffic, exposing the true mettle of players in the absence of the convenient COVID fig leaf that particularly badly run airlines used to hide behind."
In my latest column for VoyagesAfriq magazine, I take a particularly hard hitting look at the performance of African airlines in 2023 and highlight which ones did well, which ones did poorly, and which ones are a waste of oxygen to even discuss.
Some highlights :
* Any discussion of African aviation has to start with Ethiopian Airlines, who once again continued to both expand and plan for further expansion
* The South African market continues to lag the continent as SAA remains mired in its existential identity crisis while others grow around them.
* Air Senegal's planned partnership with Air Cote D'Ivoire will undoubtedly fail, because the combination of two hapless state-subsidized destitutes is an even larger destitute.
* The unfolding soap opera of Nigerian aviation provided plenty of drama, but achieved precisely zero for the entire year.
* Kenya Airways seems to have a plausible recovery plan, but crippling legacy debt handicaps them from being able to implement it.
About Sean:
Sean Mendis has two decades of experience in senior management roles within the aviation sector in Africa. He is presently based in Malawi, where he offers executive level consulting and intelligence to aviation stakeholders.
Ends.
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