Africa will need 900 more airliners

The vice-president of sales at Boeing, Van Rex Gallard, says growth of the aviation industry in north, east, southern and west Africa was the result of intra-continental trade, which was on the rise.
“In North Africa they have had some issues because of the Arab Spring and so forth. But it [growth] is coming up, it is going to continue in countries such as Algeria, Egypt, Morocco. There is a solid infrastructure in those countries. They actually have access to financing and they are technologically prepared to be competitive, with mainly Europe.”
Gallard says growth in east Africa was also booming, with major industry players coming from Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda. “Ethiopian Airlines is the second country in the world which has taken delivery of the [Boeing] 787, after the Japanese.”
Africa had enjoyed growth of five percent over the past few years, and Boeing Commercial Airplanes forecast annual growth of 5.6 percent for the next 20 years.