French-based aerospace and defence group Thales sees Africa as a market of rapidly growing importance in the sphere of air traffic control/air traffic management (ATC/ATM). The aviation sector is already responsible for 7% of the continent’s gross domestic product.

“We look at Africa as one of the main regions of business growth in the coming decades,” affirms Thales South Africa Systems (TSAS) ATM and airports senior sales manager Norman Mathinya. “We are looking at investing quite a lot in the continent. The transfer of skills to our African customers is a must for Thales. Business deals with Africa include the transfer of skills to allow African air navigation service providers to better operate and reduce their operational expenditures and eventually develop new services on the delivered platforms.

“There is an increase in intra-African exports. Aviation is quite a significant industry in Africa and thus considered a key issue by the various governments,” he highlights. “Infrastructure, in terms of roads, is nonexistent in much of Africa. Air traffic is very important for regional connectivity. It links cities, regions and countries. Air traffic links attract investors because such links make intra- and interregional business easier.”

Consequently, Africa will need to ensure that it invests in safe, reliable and ‘futureproof’ ATC and ATM systems to meet its future needs. He observes that the Europeans aim to increase air traffic capacity while maintaining safety standards in what are already congested airspaces through the Single European Sky ATM Research (Sesar) programme. Thales is by far the most important industrial partner in the Sesar programme.

The International Civil Avia- tion Organisation has initiated the Aviation Safety Block Upgrades programme to anticipate and accommodate the traffic growth expected worldwide and Thales is fully committed to ensure that its developments will be made in line with these block upgrades. African countries should bear this trend in mind when modernising their ATC/ATM systems – they should choose systems that could, in future, be integrated into “seamless” international ATM architectures, which are also aimed at reducing flight times and fuel expenditure. Such initiatives could start at a bilateral level and develop over time into regional accords.

“We have to ensure that we offer the right products at the right price,” states Mathinya. “Africa is already benefiting from Thales solutions. We’d like all our customers to benefit from the product solutions we develop.” The company is already the dominant player in the African ATC/ATM sector, with a market share of some 70%. The company can provide the full range of ATC/ATM systems, from surveillance radars to navigation aids to complete ATC/ATM systems. It is already supplying its TopSky ATM automation system to customers on the continent.

TSAS is the local subsidiary company of the Thales group and has a black economic- empowerment shareholding of about 26%. In addition, the group has offices in Algeria, Egypt Kenya and Morocco. The group also has a representative network across the continent, staffed by technical as well as administrative and sales personnel. Worldwide, the Thales group employs some 68 000 people, including 22 500 engineers and researchers, in 56 countries.