It has been revealed that Nigeria and other African countries will require at least 54,000 technical personnel from various aviation fields by 2042.
Also, it is estimated that the air transport industry will continue to grow by at least 5 percent annually in Nigeria for the next 20 years.
The Marketing Director, Africa, Airbus, Mr. Joep Ellers told TheWitness in an interview on the sideline of the ongoing 7th Aviation Summit, taking place in Abuja that Nigeria and other African countries needed to invest more in aviation to meet the future challenges in the sector over the next 20 years.
The breakdown of the technical personnel required according to Ellers, indicated that the sector would need an additional 17, 000 technicians, 14, 000 pilots and 23, 000 cabin crew across the continent in the next 20 years.
Ellers submitted that already, the sector had created an estimated 7.7 million direct and indirect jobs, projecting that the figure may double in the next 20 years as the technical personnel increases.
He said:
Besides, he predicted that the sector growth on the continent would drive average yearly service demand up by 4.1 percent, from the current $2 billion to $7 billion within the 20 years under review.
He also posited that growing Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facilities at both local and regional levels are central to the sector’s growth, safety, and longevity in Nigeria.
He expressed that the expansion of MRO capabilities in Nigeria could serve to bring in additional revenues, reduce aircraft maintenance costs, and provide even further opportunities for job creation and skills development in the country and the continent at large.
Ellers added that within the continent, an additional 1,180 new aircraft would also be needed by 2042, stressing that this would be made up of 295 wide-bodies and 885 single-aisle aircraft.
During this period, he predicted that the fleet in the region would transition to new generation types such as the Airbus A220, A320neo family, A330neo, and A350, thereby increasing efficiency improvement and a corresponding reduction in carbon emissions per passenger.
He also pointed out that in the past 10 years, Nigeria and other African nations had made significant improvements to the industry, including the creation of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) as well as the modernization of fleets by national airlines.
He emphasized that air transport would continue to grow by at least 5 percent annually in Nigeria for the next 20 years.
According to him, air transportation is a major contributor to Nigeria’s economy and needs the cooperation of all for the sector to thrive.
He also said that passenger traffic in Nigeria would increase by 2. 9 percent over 2019-2042, stressing that an additional 159 aircraft would be needed to serve the Nigerian market within the same period.
The statistics projected that North American traffic would grow in Nigeria by 3.3 percent in the next 20 years, while traffic between Europe and the country would grow by 3 percent within the same period.
He also projected that air traffic would increase by 4. 7 percent between Nigeria and Latin America, adding that the traffic is estimated to grow by 5.1 percent between Nigeria and the other African countries.
The traffic would increase by 4.5 percent between the country and the Middle East, while it grows at 5.6 percent in Asia Pacific.
