AviaDev Insight Africa

In this episode, we speak with George Mothema, CEO of the Board of Airline Representatives of South Africa (BARSA), to review the state of South African aviation in 2026 and preview the upcoming BARSA conference in KwaZulu-Natal.
George highlights positive market developments including shareholding changes at Safair, Qatar's 25% stake in Airlink, and SAA adding new routes as it rebuilds.
Key challenges discussed include ATNS's past neglect of instrument and flight procedure redesigns that led to suspended procedures and losses for airlines serving secondary airports, aging CNS equipment requiring manual workarounds, delayed airport maintenance by ACSA with noted improvements at OR Tambo, and border management bottlenecks such as long passport-control queues and delays implementing e-gates due to slow biometric systems and aging platforms. 
Find out more: https://barsa.co.za/ 
00:00 Welcome to AviaDev Insight Africa + Introducing BARSA CEO George Mothema 
01:17 South Africa Aviation 2026: The Good News (market shakeups, new investors, SAA routes)
04:21 The Bad News: ATNS flight procedure suspensions & air traffic systems upgrades
06:23 Airport maintenance & border control bottlenecks
08:27 Policy & safety snapshot: civil aviation policy balance
11:39 Regional recovery & why BARSA is heading to KwaZulu-Natal (Durban) 
15:43 Conference theme reveal: "Destination Africa" and what it means
16:07 Program deep dive
22:34 Who should attend BARSA 2026
30:48 Wrap-up.

In this episode, the focus is on Africa World Airlines (AWA) and its new Chief Operating Officer, Sohail Mahmood
Sohail shares his aviation journey so far and what attracted him to join AWA.
We then delve into the foundational strengths of AWA, including its hub and spoke model operating out of Accra, Ghana, and the reasons for its resilience.
We then move to fleet and route strategy, where Sohail hints at potential expansion on both fronts in 2026, before wrapping up with a discussion on the strategic importance of partnerships and interline agreements to enhance AWA's route network and market presence.

This session was live-streamed on 26th January 2026.
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As always, we are joined by our trusted pair — Behramjee Ghadially and Sean Mendis.
Chapters:
2025 AviaDev Award winners announcements
Ethiopian Airlines S26 network updates 
Impact of updated US travel restrictions on Africa demand in 2026
Qatar Airways frequency increases to South Africa 
TAAG's planned Guangzhou service on 787
 Air Sierra Leone Banjul–London Gatwick
 fastJet cutting LUN-HRE flights 
Airlink increasing Lilongwe flights and looking at ordering 30 E175-E2s to replace E135/140 fleet.
SAA-Cemair codeshare agreement
Kenya Airways 777-300ER returns on LHR from June
Uganda Airlines A330 issues 
Air Tanzania finally launching Accra 28JAN26?
Air Côte d'Ivoire longhaul schedule updates 
WRAPUP
Air Zimbabwe's US$775m turnaround and fleet replacement plan
Delta's 787-10 order and implications for Africa
Enugu Air's E195 expansion and virtual airline model
Oman Air to Kigali?
FlyNAS launching Abha to Addis Ababa 2x weekly
Air Algerie 2x weekly ALG-NDJ-ADD starting March 2026

Katherine Nicholls is a South African who recently graduated from the University of Surrey with an MSc in Air Transport Management. 
Her dissertation focused on the potential for Cape Town to evolve from a destination airport into a major aviation hub.
Learn about Katherine's research, which combines network analysis, connectivity data, and broader market factors.
Discover the roles of regional and international connectivity, infrastructural challenges, the impact of home-based carriers, and the future of Cape Town's aviation landscape.
CONNECT WITH KATHERINE

This is an audio recording of the annual AviaDev Insight Africa Awards, which was also live-streamed via the AviaDev YouTube channel and Jon Howell's personal LinkedIn page.
Join our monthly podcast guests, Sean Mendis and Behramjee Ghadially, who have been working independently (no collusion here!) to pick their nominees across these much-debated categories: 
✈ New Intercontinental Africa Route of the Year
✈ New Intra-Africa Route of the Year
✈ Best Intercontinental "Expansion" Route of the Year
✈ Worst Route Decision of the Year
✈ Route Suspension of the Year
✈ Surprise Route of the Year
✈ Most Sensible Commercial Decision of the Year by an African airline
Expect strong opinions, healthy debate, and possibly a few raised eyebrows!
A reminder that the views expressed are those of my guests and not necessarily those of AviaDev.