The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said that African carriers suffered cumulative losses of $3.5 billion for 2020-2022.

In a released statement by IATA said the association estimated further losses of $213 million in 2023 alone.

However, in a bid to strengthen aviation’s contribution to Africa’s economic, social development and improve connectivity, safety and reliability for passengers and shippers, IATA said it was launching ‘Focus Africa.’

The initiative according to IATA, would align private and public stakeholders to deliver measurable progress in six areas.

Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director-General, in the statement said that Africa accounted for 18 per cent of the global population, but just 2.1 per cent of air transport activities, which include cargo and passenger.

He explained that it was necessary to close the gap so that Africa could benefit from the connectivity, jobs and growth that aviation enables, stressing that was what “Focus Africa is all about.”

Infrastructure constraints, high costs, lack of connectivity, regulatory impediments, slow adoption of global standards and skills shortages affect the customer experience and are all contributory factors to African airlines’ viability and sustainability, IATA said.

IATA noted that sustainably connecting the African continent internally and to global markets with air transport was critical for bringing people together and creating economic and social development opportunities.

It maintained that this would also support the realisation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) for Africa of lifting 50 million people out of poverty by 2030.

In particular, trade and tourism rely on aviation and have immense unrealised potential to create jobs, alleviate poverty, and generate prosperity across the continent.

Africa has a solid foundation to support the case for improving aviation’s contribution to its development.

Pre-COVID aviation supported 7.7 million jobs and $63 billion in economic activity in Africa. Projections are for demand to triple over the next two decades.

“Africa stands out as the region with the greatest potential and opportunity for aviation. The Focus Africa initiative renews IATA’s commitment to supporting aviation on the continent. As the incoming Chair of the IATA Board of Governors, and the first from Africa since 1993, I look forward to ensuring that this initiative gets off to a great start and delivers benefits that are measurable,” said Yvonne Makolo, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), RwandAir and first female Chair of the IATA Board of Governors.

“The limiting factors on Africa’s aviation sector are fixable. The potential for growth is clear. And the economic boost that a more successful African aviation sector will deliver has been witnessed in many economies already.

“With Focus Africa, stakeholders are uniting to deliver on six critical focus areas that will make a positive difference. We’ll measure success and will need to hold each other accountable for the results,” said Walsh.

“Partnerships will differentiate the outcome of Focus Africa from previous efforts to stimulate Africa’s development with air transport. By partnering, stakeholders will effectively pool their resources, research, expertise, time and funding to support the common goals of the six work areas,” said Kamil Al Awadhi, IATA Regional Vice President for Africa and the Middle East.

The partners would be announced and join forces in Addis Ababa on 20-21 June to officially launch the Focus Africa initiative with more details for each task area.