Partnership formed by African Airlines Association aims to negotiate for better fuel prices

African Airlines Association (AFRAA), a trade organisation tasked with facilitating co-operation between African airlines has announced that Kenya Airways has teamed up with other African Airlines to negotiate better prices and a steady flow of jet fuel.

The partnership will see the organisation try to ward off a potential crisis caused by supply issues and soaring costs.

The start of 2022 has seen numerous African countries deal with a fuel crisis. Kenya, recently suffered its worst fuel shortage in a decade. For a majority of April, Kenyans grappled with supply hitches that led to a three-week fuel shortage.

The committee will be tasked to secure deliveries for 12 months starting in July, African Airlines Association secretary-general Abderahmane Berthe said. “We are in the last round of negotiations, the process will end in June.”

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According to Berthe, the aviation industry has seen rising prices of many imported goods amid the Ukraine crisis.

“We foresee a lack of foreign currency in many African countries that will make it difficult for airlines to repatriate their revenues back to their home countries,” said the secretary-general.

Berthe further stated the Association aims to reduce the number of national carriers spread across the continent in an attempt to increase the demand for travel.

“Every country wants to have a national carrier, they want to create a hub – this is not possible,” he said. “We may need six or seven global operators and some intra-African operators with the two systems working together to create codeshare agreements.”