Although the Southern African commercial aviation sector was showing signs of recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdowns and other travel restrictions imposed in attempts to counter it, there was still a long way to go and the industry still needed government help (not necessarily financial bailouts). This was highlighted at the fifty-first annual general meeting of the Airlines Association of Southern Africa by the organisation’s CEO, Aaron Munetsi, in his keynote address.

This month, scheduled Southern African airline capacity was still 45.7% below the level for October 2019 (that is, before the pandemic) and 43% down on that for January 2020. However, that was a significant improvement on the 90% collapse at the start of the anti-pandemic national lockdowns across the region. Nevertheless, Southern Africa was experiencing the second most sluggish recovery in the world. Only South East Asia, which was still 70% down, was doing worse. He noted that Southern Africa’s performance was undoubtedly affected by the collapse of two airlines – Air Namibia and SA Express – and the radical downsizing of a third (South African Airways).

Nor was that all. “As an industry and as a region, we are all still counting the cost of the violence and political upheaval in South Africa, Mozambique and eSwatini,” he pointed out. “Although buildings can be repaired and goods re-stocked, the economic cost in terms of lost jobs together with local and foreign investor jitters undermined travel confidence. It is not just a setback for those countries. It has had ripple effects right across the region.”

The region’s still-operating airlines were recording “wafer-thin” yields. The market displayed very little elasticity. Jet fuel had increased in price by 116% over the past 12 months, and Southern African airlines were especially vulnerable because jet fuel was no longer produced in South Africa and had to be imported. Vaccination against Covid-19 was making progress, but very unevenly, not only across the world but also across Southern Africa. While 30% of South Africa’s adult population, and 20% of each of Botswana’s and Zimbabwe’s, had now been fully vaccinated, the proportions for Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia ranged from a mere 0.8% to just 6%.

Munetsi called for the region’s governments to undertake a number of steps to support the sector. Financial support should be provided across the entire commercial aviation “ecosystem” (not just airlines) and not only to State-owned entities, because, in the end, all were interdependent, whether they were public- or private-sector. Simple bailouts would be unaffordable and unpopular; there had to be either a system of repayments or the implementation of reforms, in return for funding. Relief should be granted from tax and statutory charges, fees and levies.

As for South Africa in particular, the country had to re-establish its domestic and international air services councils. These had not been functioning since April, “preventing South African carriers from starting new regional routes, promoting Southern Africa’s economy and creating desperately needed jobs”, he warned.

More widely, among other important measures, African countries should implement the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM). Of the 55 member States of the African Union, 20 had still not signed up to the SAATM, which was meant to be fully implemented by 2025. If the holdout countries did not want to take part then, Munetsi averred, “alternative solutions that are acceptable and can be rapidly implemented so that we can start seeing some results” should be adopted.