African Airlines Warn Of Regional Supply Chain Disruptions

ADDIS ABABA—Africa’s maintenance and supply chain pressures were laid bare at the inaugural Africa MRO Conference here last week, where airline technical leaders warned that the continent’s fragile support ecosystem is now directly undermining aircraft availability, cost control and brand reputation.

Uganda Airlines and Kenya Airways delivered some of the sharpest assessments, highlighting how chronic parts shortages, long distance logistics and limited regional repair capability are converging into a structural crisis.

Deborah Acore Luciyamoi, Uganda Airlines’ materials manager, spoke plainly on the state of engine support. “We barely have MROs in Africa that have the capacity to repair and to overhaul the engines,” she said, adding that most African carriers will relate to facing long-term AOGs tied to engine issues. The consequence, she said, is a cycle of high logistics costs, long waits for shop slots abroad and severe operational disruption. “Getting slots in the engine shops is a real struggle, and you end up [parking] your aircraft for so long,” she said.

She also warned that Africa’s distance from OEM hubs and their inability to provide parts in a timely manner is amplifying the crisis. “It takes roughly 3-5 days, sometimes even longer, to get the spare in,” she said. Airlines routinely ask suppliers whether they have warehouses in Dubai or, ideally, in Africa, to cut lead times. “We need a central place in Africa where the suppliers can set up, and we can get the spare in one day,” she added.

Volatile pricing is another growing threat. Luciyamoi described a recent case involving a CRJ-900 windshield in which one serial number was quoted with different prices ranging in the thousands of dollars by over 15 suppliers. She noted that African airlines are increasingly targeted for bogus parts because they cannot always physically verify suppliers. “Because you don’t have the luxury of actually going there to physically engage them in real time, you end up becoming a target of bogus parts,” she said.

Visa denials for African airline executives traveling to Europe, the UK and the U.S. on legitimate business are also common, creating yet another structural barrier that prevents some from physically engaging with international stakeholders.

Benson Ndirangu Kamau, head of technical materials management at Kenya Airways, warned that the continent’s supply chain friction is now a daily operational reality. He described a system where every step—from identifying a part to clearing it through customs—becomes a compounding delay. “It takes some time before you can even start creating an order,” he said.

Airlines often lack real time visibility into where parts are located or how quickly they can be sourced, he said. Once a component is finally found, he added, “it will take roughly, at a minimum, three days to have it in Africa, and worst-case scenario ... it can take up to two weeks.”

Such delays translate directly into grounded aircraft, rising penalties and mounting operational disruption, a cycle he argued can only be broken through deeper regional capability and streamlined government processes.

While the African picture is challenging, the panel pointed to Latin America as a model for pragmatic, near-term solutions. Santiago Valencia, director of maintenance and supply chain at the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association, described how the region is aggressively adopting parts manufacturer approval parts, designated engineering representative repairs and used serviceable material to counter long lead times and OEM shortages.

He highlighted a free-of-charge visibility platform developed with the International Air Transport Association to help airlines compare pricing, identify alternate part numbers and understand what others are paying—tools that could be transformative for African operators.