‘African airports must become economic facilitators’

African airports are retarding their nations’ economic growth and thus airfreight business by failing to understand their roles as national economic facilitators. Setting up warehouses, customs offices and cold storage facilities is not enough. African airports must know as much about their nations’ economic data, business climate and trade potential as any Central Bank, and focus on market development as well as tarmacs and passenger lounges. That was the message at UK-based Route Development Group’s African regional conference held in Swaziland last week. The Kenya Airports Authority gets it. They hired George Oyieyo as their marketing and business development officer for Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, run by KAA. “When airlines ask me what our airport has to offer, I tell them about the Kenyan economy. If they are developing air cargo routes, they want to know that we have a very efficient customs operation and about our incentives like our six hour free parking for their planes. But they also want to hear that we are doing the best business since 2007. Last year Kenya’s GDP growth rate was flat, 0%, but this year it is 2.3%,” Oyieyo told FTW. “Say you are planning an airfreight route, and you are landing at an African airport. You look out the window and you see fields and fields of vegetables, and you know there is a market for these in Europe. But who owns the fields? Is there a way for the produce to get to the airport? What are the trade agreements in place? These are questions airport managements need the facts to answer if they want to secure air carrier routes,” said Nigel Mayes, managing director of RDG. Entebbe International Airport’s strength at marketing itself earned it a place on the short list for the Routes Marketing Award to be given at the international confab in Vancouver on September 17. “From our own perspective we want more cargo carriers to come to the Vancouver event. We want airlines that come to the regional events to bring their cargo managers. Africa is of huge interest to the world,” said Mayes, who noted that before Iceland’s volcanic ash clouded the air transport picture, aviation traffic in Africa was up nearly 40% higher than the world average.