African aviation sector seeks to stem loss of pilots

NAIROBI – Africa’s aviation industry on Wednesday called for a code of conduct to regulate a crippling flow of pilots from the continent’s struggling airlines to richer and more established ones elsewhere.

African Airlines Association (AFRAA) Secretary General Christian Folly-Kossi urged African nations to launch diplomatic initiatives that would lead to the creation of a code of conduct on the transfer of pilots. Folly-Kossi, in a meeting with Kenyan Foreign Minister Raphael Tuju, said established airlines lure pilots from Africa by increasing their salaries three-fold to amounts that local airlines simply cannot afford.”We need diplomatic action from the countries concerned,” Folly-Kossi told a press conference in Nairobi.”We have these problems in football, but in football the rules are very clear.You don’t come and take a striker from a country without signing an agreement with the team he belongs to,” he said.Tuju called for the strengthening of the regional airlines, notably in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) trading bloc.”Over 40 per cent of our business is in Comesa region.So really, Comesa is more important to us than Europe, the America (and) than Far East because the single biggest bloc of our business is this region,” he said.”That also goes to our national airline (Kenya Airways), most of its business is in this region,” Tuju added.Aviation experts have warned of a shortage of pilots in the region owing to the rapid traffic growth in Asia and the Middle East and the surge of lucrative low-cost carriers notably in Europe and Asia.They say the demand will further increase in the coming decade because of the air industry’s growth in emerging powerhouses India and China.Nampa-AFPFolly-Kossi, in a meeting with Kenyan Foreign Minister Raphael Tuju, said established airlines lure pilots from Africa by increasing their salaries three-fold to amounts that local airlines simply cannot afford.”We need diplomatic action from the countries concerned,” Folly-Kossi told a press conference in Nairobi.”We have these problems in football, but in football the rules are very clear.You don’t come and take a striker from a country without signing an agreement with the team he belongs to,” he said.Tuju called for the strengthening of the regional airlines, notably in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) trading bloc.”Over 40 per cent of our business is in Comesa region.So really, Comesa is more important to us than Europe, the America (and) than Far East because the single biggest bloc of our business is this region,” he said.”That also goes to our national airline (Kenya Airways), most of its business is in this region,” Tuju added.Aviation experts have warned of a shortage of pilots in the region owing to the rapid traffic growth in Asia and the Middle East and the surge of lucrative low-cost carriers notably in Europe and Asia.They say the demand will further increase in the coming decade because of the air industry’s growth in emerging powerhouses India and China.Nampa-AFP