Air travel in Africa: Costly flights hold the continent back
Flying within Africa is more expensive than just about anywhere else in the world. Travellers pay higher ticket prices and more tax. It is often cheaper to fly to another continent than to another African country. For a quick comparison, flying from the German capital, Berlin, to Turkey's biggest city, Istanbul, will probably set you back around $150 (£120) for a direct flight taking less than three hours. But flying a similar distance, say between Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nigeria's biggest city, Lagos, you will be paying anything between $500 and $850, with at least one change, taking up to 20 hours. This makes doing business within Africa incredibly difficult, and expensive - and it is not just elite travellers that are affected. The IATA argues that if just 12 key countries in Africa worked together to improve connectivity and opened up their markets, it would create 155,000 jobs and boost those countries' Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by more than $1.3bn. "Aviation contributes directly to the GDP in every country. It generates work and it activates the economy," says Kamil al-Awadhi, IATA's regional vice-president for Africa and the Middle East. Adefolake Adeyeye, an assistant professor of commercial law at the UK's Durham University, agrees that Africa as a whole is missing out because of its poor air service. "It's been shown that air transport does boost the economy. As we've seen in other continents, budget airlines can improve connectivity and cost, which boosts tourism, which then creates many more jobs," she says. The poor quality of road networks and lack of railways in many African countries often makes air transport the practical choice for cargo too. The climate emergency, which has severely impacted Africa, means everyone needs to be more careful about their carbon footprint and should aim to fly a lot less. But even though around 18% of the world's population lives in Africa, it accounts for less than 2% of global air travel and, according to the UN's Environment Programme, just 3.8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. This is in contrast to 19% from the US and 23% from China.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2023-07-11/general/air-travel-in-africa-costly-flights-hold-the-continent-back
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Air travel in Africa: Costly flights hold the continent back
Flying within Africa is more expensive than just about anywhere else in the world. Travellers pay higher ticket prices and more tax. It is often cheaper to fly to another continent than to another African country. For a quick comparison, flying from the German capital, Berlin, to Turkey's biggest city, Istanbul, will probably set you back around $150 (£120) for a direct flight taking less than three hours. But flying a similar distance, say between Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nigeria's biggest city, Lagos, you will be paying anything between $500 and $850, with at least one change, taking up to 20 hours. This makes doing business within Africa incredibly difficult, and expensive - and it is not just elite travellers that are affected. The IATA argues that if just 12 key countries in Africa worked together to improve connectivity and opened up their markets, it would create 155,000 jobs and boost those countries' Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by more than $1.3bn. "Aviation contributes directly to the GDP in every country. It generates work and it activates the economy," says Kamil al-Awadhi, IATA's regional vice-president for Africa and the Middle East. Adefolake Adeyeye, an assistant professor of commercial law at the UK's Durham University, agrees that Africa as a whole is missing out because of its poor air service. "It's been shown that air transport does boost the economy. As we've seen in other continents, budget airlines can improve connectivity and cost, which boosts tourism, which then creates many more jobs," she says. The poor quality of road networks and lack of railways in many African countries often makes air transport the practical choice for cargo too. The climate emergency, which has severely impacted Africa, means everyone needs to be more careful about their carbon footprint and should aim to fly a lot less. But even though around 18% of the world's population lives in Africa, it accounts for less than 2% of global air travel and, according to the UN's Environment Programme, just 3.8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. This is in contrast to 19% from the US and 23% from China.<br/>
