BENIN’S INFRASTRUCTURE: A CONTINENTAL PERSPECTIVE

**Table 7. Benchmarking air transport indicators for Benin and selected other countries**

|**Country**|Unit|Benin|Togo|Ghana|Nigeria|Niger|Burkina<br>Faso|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Domestic Seats|Seats per year|—|—|144,183|9,304,568|N/A|20,245|
|Seats for international travel within<br>Africa|Seats per year|323,132|219,505|909,819|1,373,745|128,414|244,721|
|Seats for intercontinental travel|Seats per year|99,268|76,856|832,895|2,487,702|41,717|147,095|
|Seats available per capita||0.047|0.045|0.082|0.574|0.012|0.027|
|Herfindahl index, air transport market|%|11.43|18.33|6.28|11.28|18.97|22.89|
|**Quality:**||||||||
|Seat km in newer aircraft|%|88.5|99.5|96.8|71.4|94.3|93.4|
|Seat km in medium or smaller aircraft|%|41.2|40.7|14.4|27.6|44.9|46.7|
|Carriers passing IATA/IOSA Audit|%|0|0|0|28.6|0|0|
|FAA/IASA audit status||No audit|No audit|Failed|No audit|No audit|No audit|

_Source_ : Bofinger 2008. Derived from AICD national database downloadable from http://www.infrastructureafrica.org/aicd/tools/data _Note_ : Herfindahl-Hirschmann index a commonly accepted measure of market concentration. It is calculated by squaring the market share of each firm competing in the market and then summing the resulting numbers. A HHI of 100 indicates the market is a monopoly, while a lower the HHI the more diluted is the market power as exerted by one company/agent. All data as of 2007 based on estimations and computations of scheduled advertised seats, as published by the Diio SRS Analyzer. This captures 98 percent of world-wide traffic, but a higher percentage of African traffic is not captured by the data

# **Challenges**

Despite the recent turnaround, capacity and connectivity remains low in relative terms owing to poor infrastructure and small market size. The domestic market for air transport in Benin is especially thin and served by a number of small operators such as Aero Benin, Trans Air Benin, and Benin Golf Air. In addition, there are a number of failed airlines,such as Afrique Airlines and Zircon Airways Benin. Compared with West African peers, Benin reported low numbers of seats for international travel within Africa and intercontinental travel, and its seat capacity per capita is one of the lowest in the region (table 7).

The type and condition of the country’s air transport infrastructure imposes a big challenge for expansion of the market. Airport infrastructure consists of the international airport in Cotonou, and basic and rudimentary airstrips in remote towns. The deterioration of Cotonou’s airport runway surface and its need to be reinforced is a major challenge. Users identify the main infrastructure problems affecting Cotonou airport as: (i) insufficient length of the runway; (ii) insufficient apron space, and (iii) lack of capacity of the passenger terminal at peak hours.

Safety oversight is among Benin’s most important challenges. Benin’s ICAO safety oversight audit from 2007 reveals that the rate of non-implementation of recommended standards and practices exceeds 80 percent, more than double the global average of 40 percent. There is a need to improve and complete the fence around the airport in order to comply with ICAO’s security standards.

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