African airlines switching to more economical regional airliners

Regional airliner manufacturers are seeing a major adjustment in African airline markets as airlines "right-size" their fleets, adopting more economical, regional types (especially regional jets). This was made clear at the twenty-seventh African Aviation Summit (Air Finance Africa) on Thursday by representatives of both the major regional jet original-equipment manufacturers (OEMs), Canada's Bombardier and Brazil's Embraer. Bombardier senior VP: Middle East and Africa Jean-Paul Boutibou observed that an adjustment was now taking place in Africa between routes, traffic and aircraft. "There were lots of activities on the new aircraft side," he said, as airlines switched from standard single-aisle types such as the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 families to regional jets.