The global airline industry has been on the front line of the coronavirus pandemic, which has left carriers scrambling as demand for travel has plummeted. Air travel has dropped considerably during this period, especially since stay-at-home orders have closed tourist attractions worldwide.
Many people are putting vacation plans on hold as the COVID-19 pandemic escalates.
African countries have taken drastic measures, including border closures, in an attempt to curb COVID-19. Aircraft have been parked at airports with pilots and flight attendants left waiting at home, not knowing when they will work again.
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2). With what was thought of as a China-problem in 2019, now became a world problem; the novel coronavirus was swept across the globe quickly causing rapid interventions to control the spread with the famous closure of borders, hence a halt in some aspect of human migration across borders.
The International Air Transport Association in April warned that African airlines could lose $6 billion in passenger revenue compared to last year, and half of the region’s 6 million jobs in aviation and related industries could be lost. Air traffic this year is expected to fall by half, it said.
“These estimates are based on a scenario of severe travel restrictions lasting for three months, with a gradual lifting of restrictions in domestic markets, followed by regional and intercontinental,” the IATA said.
That three-month period is already nearing an end, with no return to normal air travel in sight.
Uganda Airlines
President Museveni ordered closure of all borders and suspended passenger flights after a 36-year-old Ugandan arrived in the country from Dubai aboard Ethiopian airlines and tested positive for the virus. Since then, the Uganda Airlines has suspended all its operations as part of the government’s measures to forestall the spread of coronavirus.
The revived Uganda Airlines barely had the chance to get started. Without solid support from the state while grappling with how to comply with new safety guidelines, Uganda Airlines “may as well go home,” said Francis Babu, a pilot and former government minister.
ASKY Airlines
ASKY Airlines are a passenger airline founded in 2010 on the initiative of West African governments. Nowel Ngala, commercial director of the airline said the pandemic has been “very devastating “ to the company, whose nine aircraft are grounded. Revenue losses are substantial and there have been “serious impacts in terms of maintaining” the planes for whenever business resumes.
The airline commenced operation in January 2010 and currently covers 25 destinations across West and Central Africa, operating out of its hub at Lomé-Tokoin Airport.
On March 6, 2020, the Togo Ministry of Health announced confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Togo. ASKY temporarily suspended all flights to Lome International Airport on March 19, 2020.
Ethiopian Airlines
Ethiopian Airlines, which lost over half a billion dollars in a few months after coronavirus outbreak, are now recovering, making $120 million revenue from cargo, says CEO. This enables the state owned aviation group to cover all its monthly expenses. As a survival measure, the airline has thrown itself into cargo operations, including shipping medical supplies across Africa and to other continents.
The airline has recently indicated that it has converted its 22 passenger aircrafts to the cargo, which enabled the airline to use the fleets for transporting goods.
“Some 22 of our passenger aircraft have been converted to cargo,” CEO Tewolde Gebremariam said. “Once the pandemic is brought under control and passenger flights resume, we will configure them back into their original passenger cabin configurations.”
If the crisis lingers, he said, “we will discuss with our owner, the Ethiopian government, on how to manage the situation going forward, and we may also discuss with our creditor banks for liquidity loans.”
South African Airways
South African Airways (SAA) reported an R16 billion ($896 million) loss for the last three years to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA). The airline has not turned a profit since 2011 and has received R57 billion ($3.2 billion) in government funding since 1994.
“We are now faced with the unknown post the COVID-19 pandemic and there is no precedent or certainty which can be followed in developing a new strategy,” the department of public enterprises announced on May 1, saying the airline will be restructured. Administrators aim to lay off nearly 5,000 employees to keep the airline afloat.
“Airlines that were struggling before the pandemic will likely end up filing for bankruptcy or seek bailouts,” the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa has warned, calling air transport a critical sector for the continent’s economy, along with tourism, as global ties and investment have grown.
South African Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has been given a freer hand to dispose of ailing and allegedly corruptly run state-owned assets, such as the loss-making flag carrier South African Airways (SAA).
The government of South Africa is being asked to set aside R3.8 billion ($212 million) for SAA. These funds are not considered COVID-19 rescue funds, but instead part of the carriers’ primary operating budget allocations. SAA’s budget proposal also includes R4.3 billion ($240 million) for 2021-22 and R1.77 billion ($100 million) for 2022-23.
Kenya Airways
Kenya Airways Ltd., is the flag carrier airline of Kenya. The company was founded in 1977, after the dissolution of East African Airways. The annual losses almost doubled even before the partly-state owned national airline was forced to ground planes to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, report notes.
The airline made a seventh consecutive annual loss in 2019. Kenya Airways fell almost 13 billion shillings ($121.2 million) into the red, compared with 7.6 billion shillings the previous year, according to a statement.
The SkyTeam carrier lifted revenues 12% to KSh128.3 billion. That was in part due to a 7% rise in passenger numbers to 5.1 million, during a year in which the carrier added flights Geneva, Rome and Malindi.
Kenya Airways CEO Allan Kilavuka said: “Even before this crisis we were not in a good place,” he told the Metropol television channel on May 6. The airline’s business model and market approach will need to change, he said. But asked how he sees Kenya Airways coping after the pandemic, he replied: “No one knows.”
Kenya Airways asked the government for 9 billion shillings at the beginning of the year to support operations including maintenance of planes. It received 5 billion shillings with the rest expected after the new fiscal year begins in July, according to Kenya Airways Chairman, Michael Joseph.
Establishing a holding company that combines the airline and the airports operator “is definitely the way forward,” Joseph said in the Wednesday briefing. “Hopefully, depending on how the situation goes, we’ll see fruition in this coming year.”
“We are not going to invest in any new routes, going forward,” CEO Kilavuka said. “In some cases we will stop flying to those destinations, in other cases, we will reduce frequencies and in other cases we will suspend. In other cases we might decide to increase.”
Kenya Airways, which depends on passenger traffic for 90% of its revenue, will have to pivot to cargo and reduce its network to create an agile state carrier, expert says.
RwandAir
RwandAir had suspended flights on March 21, a decision that was taken a few days before infections were reported in Rwanda and the country’s borders remain closed to passenger flights in order to curb the spread of COVID-19.
The Rwadan government said it will increase its funding to national carrier RwandAir, whose cost-trimming includes pay cuts of up to 65% and the suspension of contracts with some pilots and non-essential staff until further notice.
However the Kigali based airline has cut employee salaries since April by between 8 to 65 per cent depending on job scale in a measure to ensure business sustainability.
The carrier, which flies a fleet of 12 Boeing and Airbus planes to 29 destinations across three continents, has been one of the rising stars in Africa.
In February, Qatar Airways said it was in talks to buy a 49 per cent stake in the airline.
Air Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe’s state-owned airline was already facing financial trouble before the outbreak of the virus with $300 million debt. Air Zimbabwe which has one plane in operation, suspended flights on March 26.
The airline has in the last decade cut its employee numbers from 1,000 to 232.In April, the airline had put workers on indefinite unpaid leave, until the Boeing 767 can fly passengers again, after revenue dried up with the new coronavirus outbreak virtually grounding global air travel, an internal notice to employees.
Air Zimbabwe is headquartered on the property of the Harare International Airport, in Harare. The carrier used to operate a network within southern Africa that also included Asia and London-Gatwick.
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