Transient Rights: The opportunity of Sudan – Al -Zawiya Net

Transient Rights: Sudan’s opportunity after the reconstruction. ”The strong national carrier is the basis
By Ibrahim Adlan- two do not disagree that the geographical location of Sudan, specifically Khartoum Airport, is a rare strategic advantage, which is tempted to turn it into a regional transit center (Hub), but the article written by Professor Sami Al-Amin- despite his wealth with digital comparisons- occurred in a contradiction between dream and reality, between theory and application, and between air economic policies and the aspirations of “supposed luxury”.

The writer – and may have ignored – the most important condition for converting an airport into an international transit center: the presence of a strong national carrier or an effective partnership that guarantees the hub operations. It is not enough to build modern halls and provide cheap fuel, if there is no airline that is able to operate a regular and interconnected network, according to the theory of “Hub and Spoke”, where the airport is a hub from which flights go to the edge of the network (Spokes) and return to it.
Between transit and “Connecting Passengers”

The “Transient Passengers” and “Connecting Passengers” are clear in the article:
• The transit passenger is the one who stays inside the plane or in a specific hall at the airport for several hours without changing the plane or airlines.

• As for the Connecting Passenger, it is the one that arrives through a flight to what to change his plane to another flight, often on the same airline or its aerial coalition partners, and this type is the essence of the operation of the axial centers.

The problem is that Sudan does not have a national carrier who owns a wide lines network linked to multiple points, to ensure a continuous flow of connected passengers. How do we hope to build a crossing center without lines that link it to Africa, Asia, Europe and the Gulf? This cannot be replaced by “transit”, which is not based on a real transit economy.
Air transport freedoms: the greatest absent

What the article completely ignored is that the transformation into a transit center requires advanced atmosphere policies, based on activating the nine air transport freedoms, the most important of which is:

Fifth Freedom: The transfer of passengers from one country to another across the host country.
• The sixth freedom: the transfer of passengers between two states across the host country on its national carrier.
But these freedoms are not granted by one side, but rather require mutual agreements and competitive conditions, and the presence of a strong national carrier to be able to exploit these freedoms. Is there a national carrier in Sudan today able to operate this type of movement? Realistic answer: No.

In Addis, Dubai and Doha … Where was the beginning?
• Addis Ababa succeeded because she had “Ethiopian Airlines” with a deliberate global expansion.
• Doha turned into a axis because the “Qatari” designed its air network to make Doha Airport a beating heart.
• Dubai is a crossing city with distinction thanks to “Emirates Airlines”, not only because of its geographical location.
All of these experiences confirm that the “national carrier” is the cornerstone, not the runway or the free market. Even the free market is only the result of a dense and regular movement of passengers, no cause.

The airport does not make the carrier … but the opposite
You can build the best airport in the world, but it will remain empty if you don’t have a network of lines. To own this network, you must first start with realistic policies for building or supporting a strong national carrier, possessing:
• A deliberate expansion plan.
• High operational management.
International partnerships and regional alliances.
Competitive capacity in front of the airline giants in the region.

Summary
Dreams of converting Khartoum Airport into a transit center are not impossible, but they are conditional on a national plan that begins with the national carrier and ends with infrastructure, not the other way around. As for what the article mentioned, it is a mixture of non -institutional wishes, which neglects basic requirements such as transportation, operating contracts, and open atmosphere agreements.
The geographical location does not make the miracle alone. If we do not construct a tight strategy above it, we will continue to repeat what the writer said, but it will remain talk about a dream that has not yet been born.