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The Middle East North Africa challenges: Coping with growth

Analysis

IATA has called for coordinated efforts to deal with the challenges of growth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and noted that over the last decade, the carriers of the Middle East and North African region have grown from 5% of global traffic to 11%.

IATA Director General and CEO Giovanni Bisignani stated "planned aircraft purchases of USD200 billion over the next decade will support this growth into the foreseeable future", adding: "This expanding global presence brings with it the challenge of playing a larger role in the global aviation community".

However, it is not all smooth sailing. IATA noted that region's safety record is 4.5 times worse than the global average, while airspace infrastructure not keeping up with ground infrastructure. Capacity is also expect to outstrip demand growth next year.

On the stock market, shares in five Middle East/African airlines - Kuwait National Airways, Lonrho, Comair, Royalr Jordanian and Jazeera - remained unchanged yesterday. Among the gainers, Air Arabia was up marginally (+0.4%). 1time Holdings declined 1.0%, while Kenya Airways was 1.1% weaker and Air Mauritius declined 1.4%.

Selected African and Middle Eastern airlines share price movements (% change) 21-Oct-2010

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