ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopian private airlines operators call on the government to address major challenges facing the aviation sector.
Some private airline operators told The Ethiopian Herald that the aviation sector has not received the required consideration adding that due attention is needed for the nation to earn economic benefits from sector.
In an exclusive interview, Managing Director of Abyssinian Flight Services, Captain Solomon Gizaw said that the growth of private airline operators have been restricted. “Regulations and restrictions have hindered hampered the growth of the sector”, he said.
He said that aviation is a broad and growing industry. But, Ethiopia’s private aviation sector has not grown as it was expected. Reform is yet to be introduced in the aviation sector.
He reiterated that there are several challenges in the sector like less attention, absence of credit services and enabling aviation policy.
“We are going to Kenya to for aircraft maintenance. So far, we have already spent 51 million Birr. If we had a place for maintenance, we would be able to hire 50- 60 employees”, he noted.
He said that the government should pay attention to the sector as it is part of the development of the country. And also, as a nation the country need to have more airports especially in Addis Ababa, he added.
Deputy Chief Executive Officer of National Airways, Gezahegn Biru, told The Ethiopian Herald that aircrafts were limited to twenty seats, now the number has increased to fifty.
The number of seats is very important factor in determining the fares of flight transport services, which is essential for competition, he said, adding that it is very difficult to compete and be profitable with this number of seats for scheduled commercial flights.
According to him, banks don’t have interest and capacity to meet the financial demands of most private airlines.
“We believe the sector’s policy would be improved”, he indicated.
Director General of Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority (ECAA), Col. Wossenyeleh Hunegnaw, for his part also said that the aviation industry is growing.
“The global aviation industry has transformed a lot in the past years.With the current Civil Aviation Law of Ethiopia and restrictions we cannot meet the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) standards,” he added.
“We sent draft aviation policy to the Ministry of Transport. We expect the draft proclamation be approved soon. And we hope the restriction on the seats be addressed by the policy”
The aircraft seat restriction is addressed in the draft aviation policy, he said.
In general, the participation of the private sector in the aviation sector was limited and now ECAA will increase the involvement of the private sector in the new aviation policy, he added.
The Ethiopian Herald Sept 13/2019
BY ABDUREZAK MOHAMMED
