Kenya Airways' Chief Executive Officer, Allan Kilavuka, has called for the consolidation of airlines across Africa to address the high cost of air travel within the continent, media reported.
Speaking at the Aviation 101 Media Lab in Nairobi, Kilavuka reportedly highlighted that airfares for similar distances are more than double in Africa compared to regions like the Americas, Europe, and Asia.
"Africa has many small national airlines which are competing in fragmented markets, resulting in high cost of air tickets," Kilavuka explained.
He noted that many African airlines struggle to maintain profitability, as a commercial airline typically needs a fleet of at least 50 aircraft. This challenge, he argued, could be mitigated by merging national airlines to pool resources and create regional aviation hubs. Such consolidation, Kilavuka suggested, would streamline operations, reduce costs, and ultimately lead to cheaper airfares for passengers.
Kilavuka also pointed to the slow progress of the Single African Air Transport Market, which was launched in 2018 to liberalize the continent’s aviation industry. The slow implementation, he said, has led to low seat occupancy rates and missed opportunities for growth in Africa's aviation sector.