Africa airlines face death from Ebola, report asserts
What you need to know:
- “The industry, which supports over seven million jobs and contributes $80 billion in GDP may witness several financial insolvencies if the US and EU impose strict travel restrictions to West Africa,” the report says.
Many of Africa’s financially struggling airlines face the risk of running bankrupt should the US and the European Union impose travel bans on parts of the continent due to the Ebola menace.
In a report Ebola II African Airlines, frontier markets risk research firm DaMina Advisors have warned that the companies face the risk of insolvency should America and Europe enact strict travel restrictions to affected West African nations.
LUCRATIVE FLIGHTS
It says that carriers such as Kenya Airways, which runs dozens of lucrative daily flights to key destinations of Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Senegal could register “a sharp fall in patronage as business passengers postpone trips, tourists look elsewhere for pleasure and diaspora returnees stay home until the pandemic has subsided”.
“The industry, which supports over seven million jobs and contributes $80 billion in GDP may witness several financial insolvencies if the US and EU impose strict travel restrictions to West Africa,” the report says.
Other key airlines that serve these destinations include KLM-Air France, Lufthansa, British Airways, Turkish Airlines, Emirates, Royal Air Maroc, South African Airways and Ethiopian Airlines. Kenya Airways suspended flights on the Liberia and Sierra Leone route in August this year.
The national carrier flies to West Africa 44 times a week and the market is key to its performance as analysts estimate the region generates about half of its total turnover.
