Covid Creates Conditions for Aircraft Brokers to Prosper in Africa
Late 2020 and early 2021 see significant uptick in activity, as first-time buyers enter the market.
Kani Saritas covers sub-Saharan Africa for Jet HQ from its Dubai office. (Photo: Jet HQ)

While one leading OEM was reticent in speaking to AIN about recent sales of new business jets in Africa, preowned aircraft brokerage has performed well overall in the year since the pandemic broke out.


Danie Joubert, Jetcraft's v-p sales for Africa, said most OEMs were represented on the continent, with Bombardier and Dassault's Falcon series the most prevalent business jet types there. “In addition, Embraer remains popular, while interest in Gulfstream is more likely to be seen in western Africa than in South Africa,” he said.


“Before Covid-19, interest in preowned private jets sales was focused on particular areas, but now this has spread across the continent. Right now, we’re seeing serious widespread activity, with interaction between competent buyers in Angola, Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Uganda, Congo-Brazzaville, Kenya, and Namibia, among others.”


After a lull, Joubert saw an improvement in activity towards the fourth quarter last year in the region. “At Jetcraft, in the last 12 months we’ve seen roughly double the number of first-time buyers of preowned aircraft than in previous years, which is a tremendously positive indicator of the future growth of our industry,” he said.


Covid-19 also triggered a fresh wave of interest from new market entrants. The downturn in airline activity and the demise of many airlines, or route reductions, led to a major increase in interest in aircraft acquisitions.


“In particular, we’ve seen inquiries from those who had previously been happy to rely on the airlines for business travel but now want to explore the flexibility, control, and security that flying privately provides,” he said. “As things are steadily opening up in Africa, we’re seeing a resulting increase in activity and transactions coming together in 2021.”


While it now has an office in Egypt, Kansas City, Missouri-based Jet HQ has been expanding its sub-Saharan footprint via its UAE office. Dubai, UAE-based Kani Saritas specializes in north and west Africa and South Africa and recently completed a transaction in CĂ´te d'Ivoire, assisting the country’s Air Force in finding and purchasing a Gulfstream G450 based earlier in Latvia. “As a whole, the region has seen growth in midsize and super-midsize jet sectors,” the company said.


The eastern part of sub-Saharan Africa is still untapped, according to Dawit Lemma, CEO of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia-based Krimson Aviation. “Eastern Africa and the eastern seaboard of Africa are lacking in jets,” he said. “I want to clearly distinguish between turboprops and jets.


“We don't have that many corporate jets flying up and down the country. The turboprop market is phenomenal, while the helicopter market is also strong, with Kenya, of course, leading the way. Given the strategic location, especially with the Red Sea corridor and the China One Belt, One Road initiative, and the ports on the Red Sea, long term we're going to see an uptick in business aviation.”