West Africa movers and shakers: Air Nigeria shuts down; EgyptAir and South African look to expand

The once-sleepy market in west Africa continues to prove dynamic, even if occurrences are two steps forward and one step backwards. In the category of the latter, once promising Air Nigeria has suspended operations after a high profile few months that included staff strikes, rumours and two groundings by the regulator. Political interference was thrown into the mix, with a police raid over taxes unpaid from a previous owner. The airline leaves a gap in the high demand Lagos-London market as well as domestic and regional routes.

The situation is more stable in Ghana, whose smaller market but stronger regulations have attracted new carriers. And more may be on their way: South African Airways wants to establish a regional hub in Accra as well as export its lower-cost units in a bid to have a pan-African network. EgyptAir has proposed investing in a small Ghanian carrier to further its reach, a growing sign that Africa will see robust competition rather than the obscure and surprise announcement in 2010 from EgyptAir, Ethiopian Airlines and SAA to seek broad cooperation with each other.