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With an encouraging Routes Africa The Route Development Group (RDG) concluded its annual series of regional route development networking forums. For the first time the event incorporated the Middle East. It brought together airlines, airports and tourism authorities from more than 30 countries in the region. RDG is now gearing up for the world’s largest route development forum, the 15th World Routes to be held in Beijing on 13-15th September 2009, where delegates will once again be able to continue the discussions and relationships forged at Routes’ regional events – with the emphasis steered towards global route development.
Co-hosted by ONDA and ACI Africa, the forum mirrored the positive spirit many airports and airlines maintain. During the talks and meetings it emerged that while the Middle East remains positive both in terms of traffic growth and capacity added, there are still several obstacles that hinder Africa from developing its full potential.
"The African market is facing three main challenges: the global recession, the political instability within the continent and the lack of strong leaders in the aviation industry who could make the market blossom," said Bernard K. Mogambi from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi. "But there is a lot of untapped potential, and we are very optimistic that the African aviation industry will mature soon. Now is the time to invest in the region, which is one of the key messages we want to convey. That is why it is crucial for us to attend events like Routes. If we did not attend, we would run the risk of missing out on good opportunities to present our case."
Oliver Dersch from Munich Airport is of the opinion that despite its weaknesses, Africa is a highly beneficial market: "Due to the bad connectivity within the region, there is a lot airports can achieve by working with very few key African carriers. Egypt Air is a classic example – as one of Africans hub carriers they have stimulated our traffic not only to Egypt, but also to various other African markets. Generally I would say that Africa is a small, but very steady market of good value. My meetings with the carriers attending the event have once again been very interesting."
In addition to the formal one-to-one meetings, Routes held the African heat of its accredited Airport Marketing Awards. Cairo International Airport was crowned the winner, while Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi and Julius Nyerere International Airport, Dar Es Salaam were ‘Highly Commended’. The winner will now be automatically entered into the shortlist for the World Airport Marketing Awards, to be held at World Routes in Beijing. There they will compete against the winners from the other regional Routes events: Routes Americas (Dallas/Fortworth), Routes Asia (Christchurch) and Routes Europe (Athens).
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
