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By Charles Onyango-Obbo
Recent years have been brutal for African airlines but, despite this, there is a new rush for the resurrection of dead national carriers (in Uganda) or the United States. Air again (in Tanzania)
However, Ethiopian Airlines, the largest and most flourishing airline in Africa, is going in the opposite direction.
A few weeks ago, Addis Ababa announced that privatized and recently it has come up with plans to create a fleet of smaller planes because rising demand suggests that routes where they would be piloted would be better served by using larger planes
was in talks with the Nigerian government for a new national carrier and planned to buy a tranche of Eritrean Airlines while the diplomatic thaw between the two neighboring countries continues.
It is not known if we will see a new era of Af But there is one thing that airlines on the continent do not do.
African nationalists and activists never tire of talking about "African solutions to African problems". But we have never heard of "African airlines for particular African flight habits".
It may well be that having airlines built around the particular requirements of Africa's unique flying habits is magic. 19659012] If you have often left the busiest airports of Western Europe and the United Arab Emirates, you have already seen this scene several times: An African businessman (often originating from from West Africa) would have bought half of a goods store in Dubai and, having checked in five massive bags and paid for extra baggage, wants to take three large suitcases as baggage to hand.
Of course, the recording employee says no, and your African shopkeeper gets angry and throws anger. Shouting and accusing racism against African travelers, he or she holds the queue for registration. Security is called and soon there is an even stronger argument, and a fight.
All of this happens mainly because traders know that they do not travel with their precious goods and send them in advance or later, their bags being opened and the fruits of their hard work stolen. They do not want to leave their purchases out of sight.
M-PESA MOMENT
This is a real problem, but no African airline has ever seriously tried to fix it.
So it seems that the continent's aerospace industry needs a "moment M-Pesa or a bank of actions" – an innovation that differs from the so-called "Global standard" and adapted to our particular requirements.
"Does the airline for special flight needs of Africa" look like?
If I were asked to do it, on the roads where traders fly, I would get rid of forward-facing seats. I would redesign the passenger cabin so that passengers sit as soldiers in the military transport.
I would then remove half of the rows and create open lockers for medium-sized cargoes. A shopkeeper who bought 10 suitcases of shoes and clothes would sit with his cargo in the locker in front of her, so that she could keep an eye on her.
NO PILGER
They would pay a premium for this service
I would also change the way the bags are delivered from the plane to the carousel
I would sell a pass to the traders who are traveling from Dubai or Shenzhen with their goods that would allow them to be present when they will be unloaded, then sit at the back of the tractor when the luggage is transported up to the conveyor belt, in order to make sure there is no pilfering.
This is not clean and may even seem hopeless, but a lot of good could happen outside of that. We will avoid these scenes at the airports of West African traders who threaten to undress because they were not allowed to carry 100 kilos as hand luggage.
DEBT-RIDDEN
This would also help reduce the losses suffered by traders from being stolen from airports, and create for the airlines more traders who are happy to pay a premium for the privilege.
I, myself, would not fly "class trader" but I suspect the first African airline that will have the courage to introduce such a service would have a lot of money that would fall from its ears.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. It was recently reported that South African Airways, a debt debtor, was leasing its pilots to other airlines to avoid having to fire them, and at the same time fend for itself.
Although the stories did not clarify, they suggested that getting a cut of the arrangement.
It's all a bit strange, but these are the things that could help keep the lights on.
million. Onyango-Obbo is the publisher of Africapedia.com and explaining Roguechiefs.com.
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