Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Airlines Association of Southern Africa, Aaron Munetsi, has raised concerns over the slow pace of aircraft acquisition and the fragile state of airline operations across Africa.

Munetsi, who spoke on the second day of the Nigerian Aircraft Acquisition & Investment Summit (NAAIS) in Lagos, painted a troubling picture of the continent’s aviation landscape.

He lamented that Africa had been unable to leverage its vast population and geographic size to build a viable, competitive aviation sector.

According to him, with 52 scheduled airlines on the continent, only seven are fully operational, while only one of the operational airlines is profitable.

He also said that the entire 1,000 aircraft in the fleet of the continent’s airlines could not be compared to the fleet of Delta Air Lines from the United States, with about 1,500 aircraft in its fleet.

He said it showed the scale of the gap between the continent and more developed aviation markets.

According to him, Africa’s aviation contribution remained “disproportionately low” despite its demographic advantage.

“With a population of about 1.4 billion people, the continent contributes just two per cent to global aviation. That is not commensurate with our size or potential.

He attributed the situation to a combination of economic constraints and regulatory inefficiencies, noting that many African economies were not structured to support sustainable airline operations or fleet expansion.

Munetsi also mentioned the weak revenue base of African airlines, revealing that some operators generate less than $1million in returns, stressing that this is unsustainable for such a capital-intensive industry.

He pointed to the ageing fleets across the continent, and cited industry data indicating that Africa operated some of the oldest aircraft globally.