Africa Aviation Outlook 2018: Potential for growth, as always

THERE ARE ONLY SO many times it is possible to highlight the prospects for growth in aviation across the African continent while still maintaining enthusiasm that the huge potential can actually be realised.
It is clear that Africa represents the last frontier for aviation development, but impotent government transport strategies and ongoing protectionism practices continue to limit its success. There is a mild hope of regulatory progress, while perhaps the greatest optimism attaches to some very persistent attempts to expand LCC operations in the region.
The Jan-2018 launch of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) is certainly progress, it but threatens just to be yet another unfulfilled landmark in African aviation - unless the industry works closely with governments to break the barriers that are restricting the continent from reaching the levels of which it really should be capable.
The agreement, signed by 22 nations which account for around 75% of intra-African air transport and together have a population of approximately 600 million people, can only be seen as serious progress once a full roadmap for its adoption is formulated.
Admittedly, there has been regulatory progress in some parts of the continent in the past year, most notably in Mozambique, which has opened its domestic market to foreign airlines, and while some airlines are proving successful in enhancing African connectivity on an intercontinental scale, efforts to grow intra-Africa connectivity continue to face hurdles.