Omolabake Fasogbon

Business Aviation Company, Vivajets has expressed optimism about Africa aviation industry, despite lapses that continue to inhibit its full potential. 

Chief Executive Officer of the company, Chukwuerika Achum, declared this at the Africa Financial Summit (AFIS 2025) in Morocco, identifying pressing challenges that must be swiftly addressed to unlock sector’s prosperity. 

 AFIS which is a platform for exchange and reflection brought together over 1000 leaders from the financial industry, including bankers, insurers and policy makers from Africa around the world, to chart path for inclusive and robust pan-African financial services industry.

 At the conference, Achum highlighted key progress points that have distinguished African aviation to enable major improvement in technology and regional co-operation. 

He stressed however, that meaningful and sustainable strides are achievable only with policy harmonisation, financial trust, and regional collaboration.

According to him, regional aviation is still largely marred by structural flaws, including complex regulations, visa restrictions and low trust among African businesses and high insurance premiums.

 These, he said, have been  slowing down the sector’s activities across the continent. 

 “The trust currency is very low in Africa. When we operate across the continent, vendors want cash upfront, while European operators get 30-day credit terms. That imbalance tells you everything about how we trust or don’t trust ourselves. 

 “Despite international aviation standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), African airline crews still face unnecessary visa restrictions that hinder efficiency. Annex 9 of ICAO grants facilitation for airline crews, yet our Nigerian crews still need visas to enter some African countries like Morocco. There’s no clear explanation why an African crew needs a visa”, he lamented. 

He also added that inconsistent regulatory processes such as landing and overflight permits had consistently delayed operations and incurred avoidable costs.

 “Intra-African flights are still burdened by 72-hour landing permits with no clear criteria, extra insurance premiums on African-based aircraft, and costly dollar-to-local currency conversions that make us pay twice . Yet, paper agreements like PAPS don’t yet solve this reality”, he said. 

He urged unified aviation reform, adding that a partnership between governments, regulators, and financial institutions is crucial to standardise aviation regulations and permit processes. 

“This will also aid enforcement of ICAO Annex 9 to ease crew movement, stronger local insurance capacity, better credit and trust systems for African operators, as well as simpler cross-border payments and currency exchange. 

 “Africa’s skies should connect us, not divide us. We have the people, the planes, and the passion. What we need now is trust, coordination, and courage to reform”, he said.