AFRAA focuses on security and connectivity in its five-year strategy
The African Airlines Association (AFRAA) has outlined its priorities for the next five years during its annual general meeting in Cairo, which brought together the CEOs of the 45 member airlines to plan the future of African aviation.
The event, which will take place from November 17-19, marks the start of AFRAA's strategic planning for 2026-2030. AFRAA Secretary General Abderahmane Berthe stressed that safety is the association's top priority after eight runway deviations were reported in Africa between January and May 2024. These incidents were mainly due to unstable approaches, adverse weather conditions and crosswinds. To address these issues, AFRAA has introduced initiatives such as a Safety and Operations Summit, which premiered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 2024.
The summit will continue in Kigali, Rwanda, in 2025 and will include workshops on best practices, improved simulator training and the establishment of runway safety teams across the continent. Another focus is intra-African connectivity and route development, an area that has long been a challenge for the region's airlines.
"We have been talking about this for many years and still African airlines are not really working well together to improve connectivity," says Berthe. To drive network development, AFRAA plans to launch an updated version of its Route Intelligence Portal during the Cairo gathering.
Originally launched in 2022, the portal is designed to help airlines analyze their networks and identify potential new routes and opportunities for collaboration through interline agreements or codeshares. "The goal of the Route Intelligence Portal is to give airlines an overview of their network and the potential new routes they can develop, as well as the existing market.
Or in cooperation with other airlines, in interline or codeshare. This is very important for us," explains Berthe. AFRAA's initiatives underline its commitment to improving safety standards and promoting greater cooperation between African airlines to improve connectivity across the continent, laying a solid foundation for the future of African aviation.
