Flying into danger

Although air traffic to and from Africa has grown out of all recognition, the aviation environment, including vital safety components, remains dangerously underdeveloped. A.J. Venter reports.

During testimony before the Aviation Committee of the US House of Representatives in Washington DC, Boeing Aircraft made a chilling statement: "The aircraft accident rate in Africa is approximately 20 times greater than in the United States...and while some carriers and some countries in Africa are performing exceptionally well, Africa's aviation environment ranks among the least developed in the world."

These were harsh words from the industry's big player. In the same testimony on Washington's Capitol Hill, the aircraft company disclosed that 65% of today's African fleet was Boeing-built. The company therefore had a vested interest in knowing what was going on.

Africa's air routes, while hardly congested, are facing serious problems especially as the continent gains a larger slice of the world's tourist market. In 1998 there were almost 25m tourist arrivals throughout the continent (compared to 372m to Europe and 120m to the Americas). Almost 11m went through Johannesburg alone; Cairo was second with 7.1m and Nairobi handled 2.3m.

As a result of this business there is hardly an African state with its own airline that is not talking privatisation. Before that can happen to many of the airlines there are problems facing the industry that need clearing up. Airlines and smaller operators have problems of maintenance, governmental interference and, most worryingly, inadequate air traffic control (ATC). In some parts, ATC barely qualifies for an international rating.

Sierra Leoneon parliamentarians were shocked to be told last September that the majority of local flights were at risk because the only VHF set in the country belonged to the country's Airports Authority and that it was not effective beyond a certain range. No sets were fitted to any of the aircraft operating in Sierra Leone airspace and there was no HF (high frequency) equipment.

There are several reasons for the continent-wide deterioration in safety levels. In southern Africa the industry has grown prodigiously. Three or four years ago, there were about 20 airlines flying into the region. That has since risen to more than 80 but while the movement of more planes needs to be monitored, the equipment hasn't been upgraded to do so. The problem ties in with the other ever-present problem, national debt.

Aeronautical services, instrumentation and safety considerations are consequently usually low on the list of national priorities when a country is facing mounting debt. Although the upgrading of these assets is normally a national issue receiving its share of attention in the media and at cabinet level, it is invariably put on the backburner. In most cases airport and aviation infrastructure is outdated or the equipment needed for it to work effectively is either badly maintained or rarely checked. This is visible in a number of ways.

Runway lighting at some African airports is often inadequate or not functioning at all, according to the International Federation of Airline Pilots (IFALPA). It issued an urgent world-wide safety bulletin regarding specific deficiencies to members of its body, appealing to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to address problems at African airports.

There are other problems having no bearing on technical issues. When the Libyan leader, Colonel Gadaffi recently celebrated his 25th anniversary of accession to power, his celebrations threw the African airline industry into disarray. Several heads of state cancelled scheduled flights by national airlines and commandeered the planes to travel to the celebrations. Ghana Airways, whose advertising slogan is 'The Star in Excellent Service', was victim to such 'executive' orders.

One of Ghana Airways' four aircraft in service was used to get Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings to the festival. It probably wouldn't have mattered except that Ghana Airways was just then the official airline for a prestigious pan-African privatisation and investment summit being held in Accra. Two flights were cancelled - one out of Lagos and another from Johannesburg which was to have flown in a group of investors. Not sensible should you be looking for private investment later.

Ghana and its airline system is a good example of what faces many African countries. Ghana Airways operates competently in many respects. In 1998 the carrier handled 270,000 passengers representing a two-fifths growth over the previous year.

But then Kotoko International Airport needs a face-lift and there have been complaints about over-enthusiastic Ghanaian customs officers resorting to anal searches for smuggled gold which there is plenty of in Ghana. While this is nothing to do with the airline, it certainly does not improve its business prospects. It is soon to acquire an additional DC-10, which will bring its fleet to six. The company intends expanding its routes to the Middle East and destinations beyond New York. It recently also concluded code-sharing agreements with Ethiopian Airlines and South Africa's Alliance Airlines group (SAAA).

Safety issues

On the other hand, the reality of business in Africa has been highlighted by the loss of Ghana's only operating private airline, Accra's Fan Air, when its two 19-seater Beechcraft 1900s were seized by the leasing company. Earlier, two other Accra companies, Muk and Mframa had gone into liquidation. The Russian operators of Mframa (which had its only plane grounded) then asked Ghana Civil Aviation Authority to clear them for a 'test flight'. The aircraft, its crew and expatriate staff extended that little excursion all the way to Moscow and they have never returned, something that has been happening increasingly in Africa of late.

Of the 25-odd African airlines operating in early 2000, only four make a profit. This has left the rest scrambling to form partnerships with European or Asian companies, as Air Mauritius did last year with Air France.

The ever-present safety issues do nothing to ease the business problems. In the past 26 years, Nigeria has recorded 47 aircraft crashes and hundreds of airline emergencies. In 1991 alone, there were 32 crashes, due, in part, to the fact that most of the country's airports are fitted with primary radars. Some of these date back to the colonial epoch and have a limited span, covering only a few kilometres, according to Sani Baba, former managing director of the Nigerian Aviation Authority. Most vivid in the minds of most is the Boeing 727 crash a year ago in which 143 people died.

Foreign businessmen are aware of these problems, and they are compounded by violent crime and poor road safety. It is easier to get mugged or shot on the road into Lagos from the airport than it is in Johannesburg, which must be some sort of achievement.

When General Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria's new President, took over the government recently, he asked for an update on the country's transport infrastructure. Apart from safety issues (the report disclosed that only three of the national carrier's planes were functional), indigenous airlines had doubled their fares twice in 1998 and once again last year.

Nigeria needs about $50m to bring its search-and-rescue (SAR) operations up to scratch. Even though it is Africa's biggest oil producer (and potentially one of its richest countries) government corruption is such that it simply doesn't have the funds to do so and currently Nigerian Airlines has debts of $56m, which led to its expulsion from the IATA clearing house. One of the accusations was that the company had not carried out any reliable verification of its assets and liabilities to foreign and local creditors for years and it had no stock records to speak of.

This comes back to the issue of privatisation and the October loan agreed by the World Bank. This was included in a message from the bank's president James Wolfensohn, but with the rider: "Nigeria needs to prove that it can carry out economic reforms before it can renegotiate its estimated $50bn external debt and there is some doubt that it can do that."

Then there are also security problems associated with Nigeria (but not limited to it). British Airways, which recently reopened its London link with Lagos (and several other endpoints) had cut all ties in 1997. It imposed a blanket ban on flights originating from Murtala Mohammed Airport, first because London said Nigerian Airways planes lacked insurance cover and then, several months later, citing security reasons. Before that, America's FAA banned Nigeria Airways from overflying US airspace. The reason given was inadequate security at Ikeja, which has been branded gateway as potentially the most dangerous gateways in Africa.

Nigeria Airways' dispute over insurance differences persists. At the time, the National Insurance Corporation of Nigeria (NICON) and Alexander Howden (its foreign insurance brokers) were entangled in a complex web of claims and counter-claims over unpaid insurance demands. There were hints that part of the problem might be coupled to accusations of 'irregularities'. Since then, Nigeria Airways has tightened up. The rest of Afria has to tighten up considerably more.

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