LONDON, Nov. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The aircraft ACMI
leasing market in Africa has
reported unprecedented growth in the first three quarters of the
financial year 2022 and is expected to maintain this trend during
the forecast period until 2028. Given the ongoing resource
investments and tactical adjustments by key operators, the leasing
market is likely to unveil grander opportunities for regional
airlines to increase operational flexibility, enhance their
performance quality metrics, and become more sustainable.
As of now, global key operators have maintained a strong
presence in Europe, North America, and the Asia Pacific, with the African ACMI market
remaining largely unexplored. In terms of product, these operators
have acquired over 45% of the total market share in the wide-body
segment and 52% in the global air cargo market.
With the circuitous effects from other non-aviation sectors, the
growing demand for sustainable solutions by leading airlines in the
Sub-Saharan African continent, and perspectives involved with
market improvement, ACMI operators should unveil key opportunities
to cover the emerging needs in this largely unexplored market and,
at the same time, improve their competitive positions in the global
ACMI leasing market.
Remaining flexible, meeting the changing operational and
capacity demands, and rapidly adapting to unexpected market
instabilities is the linchpin for African airlines to achieve
sustainability moving forward. In reality, only a few regional
airlines are currently keen on utilizing ACMI solutions to increase
their flexibility and advance toward sustainability. African
airlines should start issuing lease requests for proposals (RFPs)
to key global ACMI operators as a strategy to increase flexibility,
provide an unrivalled experience for air passengers, and improve
their overall competitiveness.
As far as I am concerned, wet-leasing solutions appear to be the
most ideal and promising solution for leading African airlines to
increase their sustainability yet remain the most underutilized
solution in the region. ACMI solutions present some significant and
sustainable options for airlines in the region. As large and small
airlines navigate the 2022 headwinds and align themselves in the
path of sustainability, they face the problem of how to increase
their flexibility and match uncertain demand with their operations
and aircraft capacity. Under such circumstances, wet-lease airlines
provide a go-to option for struggling airlines to achieve reliable
and sustainable performance.
In 2018, Avia Solutions Group subsidiary Avion Express,
completed 52,500 block hours, with current forecasts indicating
that the company's productivity in ACMI leasing will increase
significantly by the close of 2022 and into 2023. The beauty of
working with such ACMI operators is that these companies have a
tailored solution for every type of carrier, whether an
international airline with a 500-aircraft fleet or a regional
turboprop operator with only one aircraft.
By July 2022, West African
countries led the chart with around 64.23% grounded fleet globally,
followed by Hong Kong,
Iran, and Malaysia. It seems strange or unrealistic that
African carriers would consider wet-lease options in such a
situation. However, ACMI services still provide a safer bet for
these airlines when balanced against the costs of reviving the
grounded aircraft and providing recurrent training for pilots who
were out of service.
Wet leasing provides a choice between sourcing resources from
established ACMI operators or investing resources – in most cases
unavailable – without a guarantee that such investments will
prevent a system shutdown in the short term or long term.
For established ACMI providers, market intelligence provides an
important lever, enabling these companies to know where lease
aircraft can be accessed at short notice, considering that these
companies have established long-standing relationships with legacy
ACMI airlines. This means that African airlines struggling with
capacity and other performance issues should consider third party,
wet leasing as the most apposite solution to address their woes and
align themselves in the path of sustainability.
From the growing numbers of educated customers in the African
aviation market, Avia Solutions Group foresees massive demand for
wet-leasing services, with more and more airlines outsourcing
aircraft, MRO services, provision for spares and tools, and
insurance. Our subsidiary companies, including KlasJet, are joining
us to expand their service portfolio and add more clients from
unexplored regions, Africa being
our priority and primary target market for ACMI leasing. In a
recent communication by Rita Domkute, CEO of KlasJet, the business
aviation carrier plans to expand its wide-body fleet by adding 5
economy class, next-generation Boeing 737 by the close of 2023.
Each of these aircraft will provide an additional 189-passenger
capacity to the existing fleet, providing opportunities for KlasJet
to expand its ACMI operations and extrapolate its industry
expertise to new markets like Africa.
As many African airlines may have witnessed in recent years, the
aviation business is not immune to unexpected disruptions and the
circuitous effects from other industries that typically affect
their ability to meet operational demands and achieve sustainable
development. Wet leasing solutions offer a flexible way for
struggling African airlines to scale up and expand their market
share in aggressive aviation markets dominated by non-African
carriers or where existing airlines have become
unsustainable.
About Gediminas Ziemelis:
Throughout a business development career spanning more than
24 years, Gediminas Ziemelis has
established over 50 start-ups and green-field investments in
various industries such as IT, media, luxury furniture, pharma,
clinics, agriculture, and across other industry sectors. At
present, these companies are either owned by PE "Vertas
Management", or have previously been sold and are now components of
other sizeable organisations.
Gediminas Ziemelis is the
founder and chairman of Avia Solutions Group - a leading global
aerospace services group with almost 100 offices and production
stations providing aviation services and solutions
worldwide.
Spanning his career to date, G. Ziemelis has received many
prestigious awards and industry recognitions. In 2016, G. Ziemelis
received a prestigious European Business Award in recognition of
his visionary business management and development skills. The same
year, under his leadership, Avia Solutions Group was named a
national public champion in the category of Entrepreneurship,
earning a spot in the top 110 European businesses. Twice – in 2012
and again in 2014 – Ziemelis was acknowledged as one of the top 40
most talented young leaders in the global aerospace industry by the
leading USA aerospace magazine
'Aviation Week'.
Over his career, Gediminas
Ziemelis has taken part in many impressive business
ventures. Between 2014 – 2017, he personally supported and
consulted Chinese Banks (including ICBCL, CMBL, and Skyco Leasing)
concerning financing aircraft sale-leaseback transactions where the
total value was more than US$ 4
bn.
Between 2006 – 2019, Avia Solutions Group Chairman executed
successful IPOs of 4 companies at OMX and WSE, oversaw many public
bonds issues, along with the raising of public capital worth more
than US$ 400 M.
His total net worth is US$ 1.38
bn, according to local business media.
More info: www.aviasg.com
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For media inquiries:
Vilma
Vaitiekunaite
+370 686
16336
vilma.vaitiekunaite@aviasg.com
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