Interviewee: Michael Nwajagu
Position: Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Selah Air
Subject: The Future of African Aviation and the Development of a West African Aviation Hub
The Vision
- What inspired you to establish Selah Air, and what particular gap in the African aviation market are you seeking to address?
Selah Air began with a question I kept asking as an aircraft maintenance engineer and aircraft transactions broker: why do so many African travellers still route through Europe or the Gulf to reach another continent, sometimes even to reach another African country?
Working on Boeing and Dash 8 platforms, and later arranging aircraft and ACMI transactions, I saw the same pattern. The demand is there. What has been missing is a carrier built on commercial discipline from the first day: right-sized fleet, honest route economics, and a safety culture that does not bend under cost pressure.
In my own work the pattern was concrete. On the engineering side, I have worked on the line on Boeing 737s and Dash 8 Q400s and seen how quickly an operation’s economics are decided by fleet choices made years earlier. On the brokerage side, I have seen how a lease that looks attractive on paper can become a burden if the route plan behind it was optimistic. Selah Air is built around closing the distance between those two views.
Selah Air is being developed in Lagos as an intercontinental carrier that puts those disciplines first. The gap I want to close is not only connectivity. It is the trust gap between African aviation ambition and the capital that has to finance it.
- You have spoken about developing a global aviation hub in West Africa. What would such a hub look like in practice, and how would it differ from the aviation networks currently operating across the continent?
In practice, a hub is a schedule before it is a building. It is a bank of arrivals and departures timed so that a passenger from Accra, Douala or Abidjan connects smoothly onto a long-haul flight from Lagos, and a passenger from Europe or the Americas connects onward within West Africa with minimal waiting.
What would set it apart is the sequence. Many networks were built long-haul first and the regional feed came later, if at all. Our approach is Africa First, Global Next: establish dependable regional routes, learn real demand, then add intercontinental flying where the numbers support it. That reduces the risk of long-haul routes that fill only because they are heavily discounted.
Ethiopian Airlines is the clearest example of how it can work. Addis Ababa became a continental hub because Ethiopian built the regional feed, the maintenance capability and the pilot and engineering training behind the long-haul flying, and it extended that reach by taking a stake in ASKY in Lomé. By contrast, Kenya Airways’ fast long-haul expansion in the mid-2010s, ahead of sufficient demand, led to heavy losses and a financial restructuring. Sequence matters.
- Why do you believe West Africa is strategically positioned to become a major international aviation hub, and what advantages could it offer over existing hubs in Europe, the Middle East and other parts of Africa?
Geography, population and demand. West Africa has a very large and young population, Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation, and the region generates substantial traffic that today largely flows through hubs outside the continent.
A West African hub could offer shorter routings for many city pairs, particularly to the Americas and parts of Europe, and a home market large enough to anchor a network. The advantage is not automatic, though. It has to be earned through reliable operations, competitive airport charges and a regulatory environment that investors can predict. Hubs are won on connection quality and consistency, not on location alone.
The proof that connecting traffic is available is visible in who captures it today. Turkish Airlines, Emirates and Qatar Airways serve dozens of African cities and carry many Africans onward through Istanbul, Dubai and Doha. They do it with schedules built around connections, not geography. A West African hub that offers comparable connection times and fares for the Atlantic and Europe has a real opening, but only if it matches that standard of reliability.
Investment and Commercial Opportunities
- Establishing a successful airline requires substantial investment. What are the principal financial challenges facing new African carriers, and how can they attract long-term institutional and private investment?
The hardest reality is that airlines are capital-intensive and thin-margin businesses everywhere. IATA’s own forecasts show African carriers earning very little: a net margin of roughly 0.2% for the region in 2026, around $100 million in total. That is not a margin that forgives errors.
Add currency convertibility, fuel costs, taxation and the cost of financing aircraft, and a new carrier must be unusually disciplined. The way to attract long-term institutional capital is to show how the downside is protected: a staged fleet plan, flexible lease structures, credible governance and clear milestones such as certification and route launches. Investors fund evidence and structure, not enthusiasm.
Arik Air is a cautionary example from our own market. It expanded onto long-haul routes including London, Johannesburg and New York, carried heavy debt, and was eventually taken over by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria in 2017. Foreign exchange is the other practical example. IATA has repeatedly flagged hundreds of millions of dollars of airline revenue blocked in Nigeria, which shows how a carrier can be commercially sound and still face a cash problem.
- What opportunities do you see for international investors, aircraft leasing companies, financial institutions and other businesses seeking to participate in the growth of African aviation?
There are real opportunities for aircraft lessors, financial institutions, MRO providers, insurers, fuel and ground-handling companies, and for strategic partners that want a presence in a market that is still under-served.
For lessors, a carefully structured ACMI or wet-lease relationship is a way to participate in African growth while managing credit exposure. For financial institutions, there is scope for development finance, export credit and blended structures around fleet and infrastructure. For businesses, the opportunity is in the ecosystem around the airline: maintenance, training, cargo and logistics. I would welcome conversations with any party that is serious about long-term participation in West African aviation.
A practical illustration: an aircraft lessor with a good asset but no appetite for start-up credit risk can place the aircraft with an established operator under an ACMI contract, with Selah Air as the commercial partner selling the seats. The lessor earns from the asset, the operator earns from the flying, and the start-up learns the market without owning the risk. Structures like this are where lessors, MRO providers and DFIs can all take part at different layers.
- How important are aircraft leasing, aircraft transactions and Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance arrangements in helping emerging African airlines develop sustainable operations?
They are central. For an emerging carrier, ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance) can be the bridge between a plan and a permanent fleet. It lets an airline test routes and measure actual demand before taking on a long-term fleet commitment.
It is not a free option. Minimum guaranteed hours and contract terms still need careful negotiation, and the financial commitment continues whether the aircraft is flying or on the ground. Used well, ACMI and structured leasing shorten the path to market and protect the balance sheet. Used carelessly, they carry the same risks as any other fixed commitment.
Consider a simple illustration. If a start-up signs an ACMI contract with a minimum of, say, 300 block hours a month, it pays for those hours whether or not the flights are full. If the first routes underperform, the contract still runs. The airline that negotiated sensible minimums, a short initial term and options to scale up or down is the one that survives its first year. I have seen both outcomes, and the difference was nearly always in the contract terms, not the aircraft.
Infrastructure and Connectivity
- Despite Africa’s population and economic potential, air connectivity between many African countries remains limited. What are the principal obstacles, and how can they be overcome?
The obstacles are a mix of policy, cost and fragmentation: bilateral air service agreements that restrict capacity, visa and documentation requirements, high taxes and charges on regional tickets, limited airport slots and infrastructure in some markets, and a historic lack of airlines large enough to link secondary cities.
They can be overcome, but not by one actor. Governments need to apply liberalisation in practice, not only on paper. Airlines need to build partnerships and codeshares so that a traveller on a regional route is not penalised by fragmentation. And the sector needs to put commercially realistic route planning ahead of prestige, because many promising routes have failed through poor economics, not poor demand.
Visa policy is a good practical example. Rwanda’s decision to open visa-free entry to all Africans, and Ghana’s visa-on-arrival approach, have made travel and route planning between those markets easier than between many neighbouring countries. Where visa friction remains, an airline can have an open air service agreement and still lack passengers. Connectivity is a chain, and the weakest link sets the pace.
- How important is airport infrastructure to the development of a successful West African aviation hub, and where do you believe the greatest investment needs currently exist?
Very important. A hub depends on airports that can handle peak connecting banks efficiently, with sufficient runway and apron capacity, reliable ground handling, fast turnaround and efficient immigration and security processes. A connection that is miserable for passengers or unreliable for airlines will lose traffic to competing hubs.
The greatest investment needs are generally in terminal and ground-handling efficiency, cargo and logistics facilities, reliable power and fuel supply, and maintenance capability. I would also point to MRO. The ability to maintain aircraft in the region reduces costs and builds a skilled workforce, and it is an area where cooperation between airlines can create real value.
Maintenance is a practical example. When an aircraft has to be flown out of the region for a heavy check, the airline loses revenue days and pays ferry costs. Cooperation such as Ethiopian and ASKY’s maintenance work in Lomé shows how regional capability can keep that value within West Africa. Ethiopia’s announced plans for a major new airport at Bishoftu also show the scale at which competitors are thinking about hub infrastructure.
- The African Union’s Single African Air Transport Market initiative was intended to improve connectivity and liberalise air travel. What practical progress has been made, and what further changes are necessary?
SAATM is the right idea. Its aim is to open intra-African air travel to competition, and a significant number of countries have signed. The difficulty has been implementation. Signing the commitment and applying it in daily practice are different things, and in several markets restrictions remain.
What is needed is consistent enforcement of the framework, faster approval of traffic rights, and alignment of national regulators so that an airline can plan a regional network with confidence. Airlines also have a part to play: liberalisation helps only the carriers that are ready to use it.
The practical test is simple: can an airline from one signatory state operate a route to another without protracted negotiations over traffic rights and capacity? In several cases, it still cannot. Where it can, as in some East African corridors, regional traffic grows. That experience shows why implementation matters more than signing.
Competition and Operational Challenges
- African airlines face competition from established international carriers, particularly those operating through major Middle Eastern and European hubs. How can African carriers compete effectively while remaining commercially sustainable?
Not by trying to copy the biggest hubs. African carriers compete best on the markets where they have genuine advantages: origin-and-destination traffic from their home markets, the diaspora, trade routes between Africa and other regions, and the regional network that feeds them.
Commercial sustainability comes from route-by-route discipline: measuring yield-adjusted load factor, not load factor alone, right-sizing aircraft to the demand, and keeping fleet types limited so that crew, maintenance and spares are efficient. Competitors with much larger scale will always win a pure price contest, so African carriers should win on connection quality, schedule, service and local knowledge.
Fleet commonality is a concrete example. An airline that runs several aircraft types needs separate type-rated crews, tooling and spares pools. From the maintenance hangar I can say that each additional type adds cost that does not appear in the lease rate. Carriers that stay disciplined on fleet types usually carry that advantage into every route decision.
- High operating costs, aviation fuel prices, taxation and foreign exchange constraints have historically presented difficulties for African airlines. Which of these challenges do you consider the most significant today?
If I have to pick one, I would say the combination of foreign exchange and the cost of financing. Fuel and taxation are heavy burdens, but a carrier can plan around them. Currency convertibility and the availability of dollars affect nearly every major cost, including leases, maintenance, fuel and overseas payments, and they create uncertainty that makes long-term financing more expensive.
These challenges feed each other, which is why carriers need a clear view of their cost structure and a funding model that matches revenue currencies to costs where possible.
A practical case: a carrier that earns revenue in naira but pays lease rentals, maintenance reserves and fuel in dollars carries a currency mismatch on its main costs. When the naira falls, margins can disappear without a single passenger fewer. Carriers that earn a meaningful share of revenue in hard currency, through international and diaspora traffic, are naturally better protected, which is part of the logic of an intercontinental carrier based in Lagos.
- Safety, regulatory oversight and operational reliability are fundamental to public confidence. What measures should emerging African airlines prioritise to establish internationally competitive standards?
Safety is not a department. It is the foundation of the business. For emerging carriers I would prioritise a strong safety management system, a culture in which people can report problems without fear, qualified and well-trained engineering and flight crews, and maintenance standards that do not bend to commercial pressure.
Independent audits such as IOSA matter, as does active engagement with the regulator. Public confidence is hard to build and easy to lose, and in aviation it is also what investors and partners look at first.
From my own training as an aircraft maintenance engineer, the example I would point to is how maintenance discipline shows up in small things: tools accounted for, task cards signed only for work done, and engineers who feel able to ground an aircraft. These habits are inexpensive to build at the start and very costly to repair later. IOSA registration is the standard external proof that they exist.
Economic Development and the Future
- Beyond passenger transportation, how could improved aviation connectivity contribute to African trade, tourism, manufacturing, logistics, employment and wider economic development?
Aviation is an enabler of other industries. Air cargo moves high-value and time-sensitive goods such as pharmaceuticals, perishables and electronics. Better connectivity supports tourism, business travel, investment and the movement of skilled people. It also creates direct employment across engineering, operations, ground handling and hospitality.
For Africa, the trade dimension is particularly important. Intra-African trade is a major policy goal, and it is difficult to build it without reliable, affordable transport links between the continent’s markets.
Air cargo makes this visible. Kenya’s cut flowers and fresh produce reach European markets by air, and Ethiopian has built a major cargo business around the same logic. In West Africa, pharmaceuticals, perishables and e-commerce goods all depend on cold-chain and reliable lift. Where the belly capacity and freighters exist, entire export industries can follow.
- Looking ahead over the next ten years, how do you see African aviation evolving, and which developments or technologies do you believe will have the greatest influence on the industry?
I expect to see more consolidation and more partnerships, with African carriers cooperating on codeshares, maintenance and shared services. I expect the fleet to shift gradually towards more fuel-efficient aircraft, and the use of data to improve route and revenue management to become more important.
Sustainable aviation fuel and new propulsion technologies will matter over time, but I believe the larger changes in the next decade will be commercial and regulatory: whether liberalisation is implemented, whether financing becomes more accessible and whether carriers build durable operations. Technology helps, but fundamentals decide who survives.
One practical example of the direction is fleet technology. Newer-generation aircraft use significantly less fuel per seat than the types they replace, and carriers that secured those aircraft early gained a cost advantage in a business with thin margins. The practical lesson is that access to modern aircraft, whether through leasing or purchase, will shape who competes.
- Finally, what are your immediate priorities for Selah Air, what milestones would you like to achieve over the next three to five years, and what would success ultimately look like for your vision of a West African aviation hub?
Our immediate priorities are to complete the building blocks properly: governance, the certification pathway, the capital partnerships and a fleet plan that starts with flexibility, including ACMI, before moving to long-term commitments. I would rather be slow and sound than fast and fragile.
Concretely, that means aligning the pieces in the right order: a governance and certification pathway, the first capital partners, and a first operating phase using ACMI or lease capacity so that the first routes are tested against real demand. Only then do I want to commit to long-term fleet. Phase one proves the market, phase two builds the network, and phase three adds the intercontinental routes the hub depends on.
Over three to five years, I want Selah Air to be operating a dependable regional network from Lagos, with intercontinental routes added where the demand has been proven. Success would be an airline that people trust, that investors can back with confidence, and that becomes part of the foundation of a West African aviation hub. If that happens, the achievement will belong to many people, not only one company.
