The African Development bank (AfDB) approved a €98.06 million loan yesterday (Wednesday) to finance a new project for the regional airline Air Côte d’Ivoire.
The loan will enable the airline to modernise and expand its operations as well as improve air connectivity in the West and Central Africa region.
“Despite recent growth, the aviation market in the West and Central Africa region is the most disadvantaged on the continent and has huge suppressed demand – a situation that has hampered regional growth and integration,” said AfDB spokesperson Ezekiel Odiogo.
“The project is a mix of financing, knowledge and policy solutions to deal with an aviation market failure in the region.”
According to Odiogo, the deal includes an African Development Fund Partial Risk Guarantee of €17.06 million, the first of its kind to use the leveraging power of the bank guarantee for the transport sector in Africa.
The project will include the acquisition of five Airbus 320 series aircraft, which will result in the introduction of new routes to Nouakchott (Mauritania), Bangui (Central African Republic) and Luanda (Angola).
Additionally, it will also involve a technical assistance package for aviation capacity development which will include the training of 77 new pilots and 120 aviation technicians, creating 684 direct jobs by 2020 and around 5 000 indirect jobs by 2029.
“It will support air connectivity and economic activities in seven national economic centres, improve air connections to 23 regional locations and increase cargo freight by 35% and passenger traffic from 719 972 to more than 1.2 million by 2030,” said Odiogo.
