Richard Aisuebeogun, CEO of Avialog Company Limited, highlighted during last week’s Aviation Stakeholders Convention how a lack of accurate data has negatively impacted Africa’s aviation industry.
In Nigeria, for example, there are often discrepancies in data such as passenger traffic between authorities because the statistics do not align.
Additionally, when airlines’ earnings or aggregate revenues are disputed, nobody can provide data supported by accurate statistics.
Aisuebeogun emphasised the need for all industry players, such as the Civil Aviation Authority, airport authorities, airlines and other service providers, to make their data available.
Industry stakeholders said they kept their data confidential to maintain their competitiveness. However, Aisuebeogun argued that by making data available, the sector could provide empirically backed recommendations for development plans and the mitigation of incidents or accidents specific to the state of aviation on the continent. Furthermore, the practices derived from the shared data should be reviewed to ensure accuracy.
“All of this can only be achieved when we widen our data net and make data collection easier... In Africa, in particular, it is so difficult to mine data and access data, from the CAA, the airport authority or airlines and other service providers.”
He urged policymakers and key aviation organisations to share data for better decision-making, but cautioned that even once data was made available and verified, efforts to improve numeric literacy and analyses would need to be a priority.
