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By Chinelo Obogo
A multinational aircraft manufacturing company, Airbus, has said that it is committed to manufacturing fuel efficient aircraft which delivers 20 to 40 percent fuel burn reduction.
During a media briefing held this week, ahead of the 7th Aviation Africa Summit and Exhibition opening at Abuja where Airbus unveiled its market forecast for Nigeria, the company’s marketing director for Africa, Joep Ellers, said the Airbus global market forecast predicts that passenger traffic to, from and within Africa will increase by 4.1% yearly over the next 20 years, with demand driven by urbanisation, trade and tourism, hence the need for more fuel efficient planes. He said passenger traffic could rise even faster if the Single Africa Air Transport Market (SAATM) is fully implemented across the continent.
“Airbus product line delivers 20% to 40% fuel burn reduction and the A220 family, comprising the A220-100 and the A220-300, is the most efficient small single-aisle aircraft. It is a clean sheet design and the only aircraft purpose-built for the 100 to 150 seat market segment -offering up to 1,100nm more range. It has superior single-aisle comfort: widest seats, largest windows and 20% more overhead stowage space per passenger – providing flexibility for operators to right-size their operations. It has had 806 historical orders from around 30 customers with 283 aircraft delivered; 523 in backlog at the end of August 2023, 53 deliveries in 2022; 37 deliveries so far in 2023
“Africa was the first export market for Airbus’s very first commercial jetliner, the A300. It was
also one of the first export markets for the A320, the world’s first fly-by-wire controlled commercial airliner, which set the standard for fully digital airliners. Since then, Airbus has become synonymous with air travel to, from and in Africa with more than 270 Airbus aircraft currently being flown by nearly 40 African operators across the continent. Customers in the region presently account for 295 orders.
African carriers are increasingly aware of the operational and economic benefits of acquiring
new and modern aircraft with 25% less fuel burn per seat vs. previous generation,” he said.
Speaking on the importance of aviation to Nigeria, he said airlines, airport operators, airport on-site enterprises (restaurants and retail), aircraft manufacturers, and air navigation service providers employ 20,000 people in Nigeria according to the International Air Transport Organisation (IATA). In addition, by buying goods and services from local suppliers the sector supported another 35,000 jobs. On top of this, the sector is estimated to support a further 16,000 jobs through the wages it pays its employees, some or all of which are subsequently spent on consumer goods and services.
Foreign tourists arriving by air to Nigeria, who spend their money in the local economy, are estimated
to support an additional 169,000 jobs. In total 241,000 jobs are supported by air transport and
tourists arriving by air and spending. The industry, including airlines and its supply chain, are estimated to support US $600 million of GDP in Nigeria. Spending by foreign tourists supports a further US $1.1 billion of the country’s GDP, totaling US $1.7 billion. In total, 0.4 percent of the country’s GDP is supported by inputs to the air transport sector and foreign tourists arriving by air.
Airbus Africa and Middle East Marketing Manager, Prajyoth Mirajkar, who spoke on aircraft funding, said that aviation attracts diversified sources of financing. He said in Africa and in Nigeria, lessors are usually reluctant to lend because they would find it difficult to repossess the aircraft if the airline defaults but that in most of the western world, the regulatory framework is well established and the aircraft can be repossessed very easily and overall, it is a very attractive investment to make.
He said that apart from that, an aircraft is resilient to crisis like during the covid where most aircraft were grounded for over a year and half and they were very quickly redeployed as soon as the markets rebounded. “What also makes the airlines resilient is that if you have a crisis in one part of the world, there is an opportunity in another part of the world. Because we are a global world, aircraft can be deployed in other parts of the world if there is crisis somewhere,” he said.
“Aviation attracts a diversified form of financing but the two biggest players are the leasing companies and the banks. About 60 percent of all the aircraft that we delivered in 2022 are deliveries bought through leasing companies. There are two types of lessors, those that would have an order with us directly. The second type is the sale-lease-back transactions. When an airline makes an order to Airbus, at delivery, the aircraft is sold to a lessor and released to the airline instantly. What is means is that the airline has taken ownership at delivery for the assets and released to the airline for a period of 12 years. This shows the key role the leasing community plays in aircraft deliveries,” he said.
On the issue of assessing spare parts, Airbus said that when an airline buys an aircraft from them, they would put in place what flight hour services which means that rather than buy spare parts directly from them, the airline pays the company a monthly fee and they will put the spare parts in a small warehouse in the airline’s premises where they can take all that they need.
