Under the theme of Africa’s new dawn: Aviation’s resilience, recovery and growth in a post-pandemic era, aviation leaders from across Africa and beyond have gathered in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, this week for the 6th Aviation Africa summit.
This year’s event, which is taking place on the 12 and 13 September, at the Radisson Blu Kigali Convention Centre is being co-located with the first ever Salon Mondial des Infrastructures Equipments et Services Aéroportuaires (SMIESA) – the World Airport Infrastructure, Equipment and services exhibition – which is aimed at stimulating technology transfer in Africa by promoting the establishment of manufacturers (equipment and service providers) and promoting African airports and related services under the theme: Supporting the airport industry’s recovery, addressing its needs and scaling up.
With the last Aviation Africa Summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 30 months ago this year’s event is set to be a well attended event with more than 1000 attendees from 84 countries and 96 exhibitors from 30 countries. MRO services are a big component in the exhibition hall this year while a model of Rwanda’s planned Bugesera Airport is being presented for the first time by DAR, the design, planning, engineering and management services company, in the main foyer.
Referencing how the summit in Addis Ababa was one of the last aviation events before air travel all but ground to a halt in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Alan Peaford, Aviation Africa Summit Chairman said: “We talked at that event about the threat of Coronavirus and what it could mean to our industry, but few of us thought it would be so devastating, would take so long, or would change the way we think about travel going forward.”
He added that this year’s summit will “welcome delegates from the airports industry from our collocated UGAACO event; we welcome air chiefs from African defence forces; we welcome government ministers, regulators and industry associations and we welcome government ministers, regulators and industry associations and we welcome the people of the industry and invite you to share ideas, make new friends and think about the cooperation we need to survive the next stage of our industry’s life.”
To officially open the summit, HE Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, delivered a key-note speech on 12 September in which he highlighted that despite the challenges of COVID travel and tourism in Africa are getting back to normal and aviation is slowly building back too.
“Recovery means increasing connectivity, stimulating demand and creating jobs and the African Continental Free Trade Area and open skies will help lead our businesses to regional and global supply chains boosting trade and investment. This is why the full implementation of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) must remain a top priority,” he said.
Kagame also declared that stakeholders must address the shortage of skills across Africa’s aviation value chain, as he said: “A career in aviation remains a hugely attractive career option for young people in Africa and this summit is the right platform to drive the conversation around employment and skills.”
Meanwhile looking ahead he noted that “the use of data and digital technologies are key to making the aviation sector in Africa as safe as possible, as well as more reliable and affordable.”
