Interview with Gilles Darriau, CEO of Aeria (Félix-Houphouët-Boigny International Airport)

The airport is the entry point to Côte d'Ivoire. You arrived here after the events of 2011. What is your evaluation of the country in terms of the development of business and tourism in Côte d'Ivoire?

I arrived in Côte d'Ivoire two years ago, just after the stabilisation of Côte d'Ivoire. When I first arrived here, I saw Abidjan with all of the barricades still up and so on but over the two years that I have been here, I have seen extremely positive changes occur. The situation is much more reassuring; things aren't perfect of course but this is a country that is in the middle of a restructuring plan.

As you said, the airport is the entry and exit point to the country. Not only is it the entry point for the people who come to do business but also for those who stayed outside of the country during the unrest and returned once the situation was stabilised, as well as for those living in Côte d'Ivoire who felt a sort of reticence of leaving their country and their patrimony. Thus, we have seen a very strong evolution in terms of passenger traffic of all of these kinds of passengers. For the most part, we have seen growth of nearly 25% in 2013 and we are going to see just a little bit less this year, perhaps around the 20% mark of traffic growth. Double-digit growth in airport traffic is a rare thing these days. I haven´t mentioned figures for 2012 because the growth rates that year were average for the time between 2000 and 2010.

We are making good progress in comparison to the previous decade. We have surpassed the cap of one million international passengers; in 2013, we had nearly 1.2 million passengers and I think that we will see between 1.4 and 1.5 million passengers this year. We are experiencing a moment of confidence in the country, particularly with regards to the development policies of the government concerning the objective of joining the ranks of the emerging countries by 2020. There is a dynamic of progress, even if for the everyday inhabitant of Côte d'Ivoire it may not be entirely tangible now. Obviously, after ten years of crisis it takes five years of readjustment.

What projects are in the pipeline concerning airport users?

We have a project right now to develop our airport so that it has the same kind of environment that we find in all of the large international metropolises. In general, around an airport, a network of employment and business is created, which is not necessarily entirely related to the aeronautic industry. This airport is going to generate a kind of new city around it; for the people who work in the airport there will be accommodation and commerce, which will serve that market as well as the passengers that come here. We have a large project over an area of approximately 250 hectares with a layout for tertiary services including accommodation, commerce, logistics, an expo park, etc. The idea is to create a new area of Abidjan all around the airport.

What is your role in this?

Aside from managing the airport, our role is to be the developing contractor. In fact, the business that manages the airport has a majority of French capital stakeholders, and is a subsidiary of an engineering and urbanism company. This is how the concession for the development of this new area has come into our hands. We are going to supply all of the networks, routes, roads, electricity, drinking water, plumbing for grey water, etc. Then we shall make the plots available to businesses and offices who will come and use the area for office work, logistics or commerce, etc. We have strived to select reputable partners and businesses for this project.

Is everything going well with this project so far?

Yes, everything is well on track. We are in the initial set up phase. Right now, we are in the process of signing the contract with the State. Once we have the signatures we should be able to begin within a few weeks.

Let´s talk a little bit about the aviation companies. Can you tell us a bit about Air Côte d'Ivoire?

Air Côte d'Ivoire is a company that was created just before I arrived in Abidjan, just over two years ago. The company covers a flight network all over the Sub region of Western and Central African region with a hub strategy that is developing very rapidly. The company uses new aeroplanes. It has a strong capitalist strategy that allows it to view the future quite calmly. In two years, it has become the leading company in terms of passengers in this airport. In 2013, more than 250,000 passengers travelled with Air Côte d'Ivoire and the company surpassed Air France in terms of passengers. Air Côte d'Ivoire has really boosted the airport and made it the hub of the sub region. We have been working on our international liaison development; airlines such as South African Airways, Turkish Airlines, Egypt Air, Algerian Airlines, etc., have restarted their flights from Abidjan as of last year, which is a sign of improved investor confidence from all over the African region and from the Middle East. Emirates airlines for example flies to Abidjan every day. We have a panel of companies that would surprise some of my European colleagues.

Therefore, passenger demand is bringing in these companies. What else is attracting the companies?

They are all looking to have the maximum number of passengers and the strongest possible seat occupancy. Companies see the potential here; when they look at their competition´s figures and see them increase, they realise that there is certainly good market share to be had here. When you look at companies like Egypt Air, Turkish Airlines or Emirates, their objective is not necessarily just to have passengers who will fly from Abidjan to Cairo or Abidjan to Istanbul. They are also looking at capturing the strong clientele that is redeveloping here, which can be seen in the figures from Air France, Brussels Airlines and Corsair and take this target market to Asia. This target market is travelling to China and India for example, and they can just as well transfer with Turkish or Egypt airlines than having to go through the European hubs such as Charles de Gaulle and Brussels. These companies are also working with a strategy to improve their seat occupancy rate not only on flights from Côte d'Ivoire to Egypt for example, but also on flights from Egypt to the rest of the world. This is an important factor.

Thus, we can say that the situation is quite favourable for the development of new companies here.

Well, nothing in this world is guaranteed but we are seeing a very noteworthy development here. We have put Côte d'Ivoire and this airport on the map, not only for the airlines that come here already but for new companies. We are looking to develop the European market, perhaps with direct flights to England, Germany and Spain. Equally, another important area for us is Asia, a region that holds much potential not only for the future but also for right now. We are prospecting Chinese and Indian companies.We have been making business contacts in this area. In the same way, we are working on developing the North American and Canadian market and network. We know that the North American market exists. We have detailed access to the itineraries of our Ivorian passengers, so for example; we are able to see which airline passengers travelling to San Francisco have used. If we could allow them to arrive there with a direct flight soon, perhaps not to San Francisco but at least to the United States, that would be fantastic and we strive every day to achieve this. To be able to do this, we need to be recognised by international and American companies in terms of certifications, reliability and security. These conditions oblige us to have excellent procedures in place and to invest in a number of technical aspects regarding the airport. We are going to welcome the Air France A380 aircraft three times a week by the end of autumn, and we are going to be the second airport after Johannesburg to welcome this A380 on its regular flight. We are very proud of this and it says a lot about the modernity of our airport. I would say that it is a big step forward for the airport but it does obviously require a lot of investment and constant self reevaluation.

Can you tell us a bit more about the certification and regulations?

We work with the local civil aviation authority and with our partners in the airport in this regard. We hope to gain the International Standard for Aviation certificate by the end of 2014. This would be the prerequisite for our negotiations with North American companies. Equally, we are also working hard on enlarging the aircraft parking area; this is a large investment project that we began about a month ago. This will allow us to receive the A380 in October. We are also investing a great deal in renovating the passenger departure zone, which has become somewhat obsolete for all the international passengers that we receive today. We are working on developing the duty free zone, the food court, a business lounge, etc. Currently our business lounge is rather ordinary and I think that we need to adapt to meet the demands and expectations of our clients, especially as the economy is picking up again here and we are seeing more and more business passengers.

If you succeed and complete all of these projects then you will have no more worries!

We shall have to succeed in all areas before I have no worries at all!

How do you perceive the future development of airports all over the world but particularly in Africa in the future?

We are surrounded by competition: on one side, I have Dakar airport and on the other I have Accra airport. There are development projects going on everywhere, for example, the airport in Lome is modernising, as are the airports in Bamako and Ouagadougou. Each of these airports wants to be a hub. In a region such as this, there could be ten airports competing to be a hub. Obviously, there will be winners and losers in this game. I think that to be a winner you have to have a partnership between the airport and the national airline, and I hope that Abidjan for this reason will be amongst the winners. It is difficult to imagine being a hub without having a company in the headquarters and in the airport. I think that this is fundamental. President Ouatarra wants to see Côte d'Ivoire join the ranks of the emerging countries by 2020. We have an airport that is modernising and growing in numbers of passenger traffic due to the recovery of Côte d'Ivoire. All of this development has allowed for the creation of Air Côte d'Ivoire. With the airline's strong capitalisation strategy and its new aircraft, we should be able to create a partnership between the airline and the airport, which leaves Abidjan with good chances of success. Nowadays, the aviation sector globally is quite volatile but I think that we have solid bases.

Another thing to note is that Africa is underdeveloped in terms of air traffic. Africa represents just 4% of global air traffic. This is not normal, especially as this is a continent in which nearly every country is experiencing economic growth. Apart from a few areas, this entire region has experienced very strong growth and we have the majority of the world´s resources.Therefore, it is atypical that we only have 4% of global air traffic when Asia, which is also experiencing very strong growth with its resources and production, is progressing rapidly. In 5 years, the 10 main airports in the world will be Chinese. Airports such as Atlanta, Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle will be behind Peking, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Chengdu, Shenzhen, etc. I think that the growth of air traffic in Africa is inevitable because not only the African countries will liberalise air traffic to the maximum effect, at least among African countries, which will create more competition, but they will also reduce industry running costs. Today you have to head towards a cheaper system. I am not saying that we need to implement the European style low cost airlines but simply that we need companies that have very good yield management. It is the tendency nowadays, at least with Air Côte d'Ivoire, to pay great attention to good management to cut costs whether it be costs of tickets or other costs. As an airport, we also have to reduce our costs so that we can be more affordable. I believe that the development potential for air traffic in Africa is colossal.

Can you give a final message addressed to aviation companies around the world? What are the main assets of Côte d'Ivoire and Abidjan Airport? Why should an American company come here and what are the competitive advantages of Abidjan compared to other sub regional airports?

I really believe that our airport has one of the best locations in the region. Dakar for example is very western and Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire are very southern airports. We are at the centre of Western Central Africa. We have the advantage of being a hub with Air Côte d'Ivoire, which flies to about twenty African towns and cities. They fly to Dakar, Monrovia, Accra, Brazzaville, and many others from Abidjan. Côte d'Ivoire is the most important economic country in this area aside from Nigeria, which is a very big country. Many American companies have subsidiaries here in Abidjan. It is a very good market for an American airline. We estimate that we are able to traffic about 40 thousand to 50 thousand passengers directly to the United States. Currently, these passengers have to connect through Paris, Casablanca or even via Dubai to fly to North America. Thus, I would say to American companies that we are waiting for them to come here and to fly from our hub.

Aside from America, we are also looking at developing more flights to Asia, mostly to China and India. A lot of young Ivorian people and students are travelling to India and China.

Côte d'Ivoire also sees a lot of commercial interaction with the UK and I really believe that a flight between London and Abidjan would be a nice flight to have. Not to mention flights to and from South America, Australia, etc. However, for now I would say our main target is North America, the UK and the East.

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