Middle East gets lion's share of air travel growth

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By AUDREY D’ANGELOCape Town - South Africa was named as a "leader in the Africa region" in a report released this week by Airports Council International that showed continued strong growth in international airline travel.The report shows 12.3 percent growth in international passengers to Africa in February, compared with the same month the previous year, and 15.7 percent growth in domestic passengers in the continent.But it also shows the Middle East far outstripped any other part of the world in attracting international passengers, with growth of 18 percent.According to Peter Harbison, the executive chairman of the influential Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation: "Middle East aviation is tipped to grow by just under 7 percent per annum for the rest of this decade - that means doubling every 10 years - making it a market the rest of the world can no longer ignore."Amanda Harrod, immediate past president of the Association of South African Travel Agents, said four Middle Eastern airlines flying into South Africa - Emirates and Etihad from the United Arab Emirates, Gulf Air from Bahrain and Qatar Airways - had taken passengers from all other international airlines including SAA by offering indirect flights to destinations all over the world at lower fares. Thulani Nzima, chief executive of SA Travel Centre - the franchised chain of travel agencies wholly owned by SAA - said it was wise that the airline had postponed earlier plans to put on more flights to India, although tourism and trade between the two countries was growing, until it was certain the additional flights would be sustainable.Nzima pointed out that Middle Eastern airlines offered a wider choice of destinations in India because they flew to a number of cities on the subcontinent compared with SAA's flights from Johannesburg to Mumbai.He thought this was why Air India seemed to be hesitating to start a promised service to South Africa.Meanwhile, SAA, like other full-service airlines worldwide, is going through an intensive restructuring process to enable it to meet increased competition. It is preparing a business plan, due to be completed in May, which it hopes will convince the government to recapitalise it.
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