As African governments accelerate airport expansion in support of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), aviation experts warn that new terminals and runway alone will not deliver better air connectivity.
At the SAATM Pilot Implementation Project Airshow in Harare, Zimbabwe, earlier this month, Zimbabwean Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona said the time has come for African countries to build modern aviation infrastructure to solve Africa’s constrained air services.
Ethiopia, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Angola and Zimbabwe have either completed or are planning major airport upgrades and expansions in the hope of improving connectivity and supporting tourism growth.
However, Aviation Expert Sean Mendis told Tourism Update that infrastructure investment only succeeds when it is driven by genuine demand.
“It’s not as simple as ‘build it and they will come.’ Not all airports are created equal. In some projects, there is definitely a need to improve or expand infrastructure. For example, at the new Bishoftu Airport in Ethiopia or Bugesera in Rwanda, the existing infrastructure has outgrown its capabilities.”
On the flip side, Mendis added, there are projects, like the new Mbarara Airport in Uganda, being planned based on “somebody’s ego and possibly a bad dream”.
Successful airport projects are driven by market demand rather than political ambition, he believes.
An example of this is Ho Airport in Eastern Ghana. Estimated to have cost US$25 million to construct, the airport opened with much fanfare in 2017 but handled fewer than 20 000 scheduled passengers before flights were suspended in 2022, citing low patronage, fuel costs and the absence of a state-owned carrier.
Similarly, Mendis noted that Nigeria is littered with airports that see little traffic. Five out of 32 airports account for almost 90% of passenger traffic.
“Every state has an international airport that pretty much only operates for Hajj pilgrims. That’s a huge vote winner because you can now tell the pilgrims that they can fly to Jeddah from Nigeria. But is it worth the billions of dollars that go into each of these projects? That’s for the taxpayers to figure out.”
From an airline’s perspective, economics remain critical.
“Airlines are a business,” Mendis pointed out. “Apart from a few government airlines that will do things for political reasons, if you cannot make money flying to that airport because the airport charges may be unreasonably high, you’re not going to launch flights over there.”
That is not to say that airport investment is ineffective. Where infrastructure genuinely addresses capacity constraints, it can unlock significant growth. Pre-COVID, Mendis said, the Zanzibar airport was unfit for purpose.
“But then a new international standard terminal was constructed through a public-private partnership and, suddenly, Zanzibar is in the top five of the fastest-growing airports in Africa. There is a compelling case that the infrastructure was good enough to tip it over the edge.”
For SAATM’s ambitions to succeed, modern terminals alone will not be enough. Airport investment must be underpinned by strong market demand, commercially viable routes and policies that make it easier and more affordable for airlines to expand across the continent.
“The key is that decisions need to be taken based on data. You should build an airport using realistic forecasts of where the market is going, based on today’s numbers and tomorrow’s strengths.”
