African Pilot Weekly Magazine 24:2026

Adefunke Adeyemi, Secretary General of the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC), speaks to African Pilot Magazine Editor Phillippa Dean during the first African Air Transport Convention and Exhibition in Lomé, Togo, following the adoption of the Lomé Declaration and its Implementation Matrix.

Adeyemi explains why the declaration is not intended to be another policy statement without follow-through, but a structured implementation tool linked to the eight pillars of the convention. She outlines AFCAC’s role as the African Union’s specialised agency for civil aviation and as the executing agency for the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM).

The interview covers the role of Togo as host country and SAATM Champion State, the significance of the President of the Council of the Republic of Togo’s call for accelerated implementation, and the symbolic presence of Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, who was Chairperson of the African Union when SAATM was launched in January 2018. Adeyemi also refers to the involvement of former Nigerian President H.E. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, describing his continental role in supporting African integration.

Adeyemi highlights the link between SAATM, AfCFTA, the free movement of people and Agenda 2063, noting that aviation is central to Africa’s ability to integrate markets, connect people, move goods and build a stronger continental economy.

She also points to progress made under SAATM, including 124 new routes over the past three years, a 44% increase in seat capacity and a 45% increase in passenger numbers. With Africa’s aviation market still largely untapped, she argues that further progress can support economic growth, job creation and stronger intra-African connectivity.

The interview also touches on the importance of bringing development finance institutions, banks and technical partners into the aviation implementation agenda, including the work required to build regulatory frameworks, support harmonisation, develop data and make the case for investment.

Join African Pilot as Kent Gibbon goes behind the scenes at Cloudline in South Africa with CEO and founder Spencer Horne for a close-up look at the SC240, a fully autonomous, helium-filled, solar-powered airship designed for long-endurance missions.

In this exclusive walkthrough, Spencer explains how the SC240 operates, including its 40kg payload capacity at sea level, solar-powered endurance of 10 to 12 hours, autonomous GPS waypoint navigation, VTOL and cruise flight capability, onboard communications, mobile command station, deployable hangar system and international deployment model.

The discussion also covers Cloudline’s South African supply chain, airship control systems, avionics weight optimisation, Beyond Visual Line of Sight operations, regulatory requirements, commercial use cases and the unit economics behind airship operations for long linear infrastructure.

Cloudline’s platform is positioned for energy, minerals and infrastructure applications, including exploration, monitoring and inspection, where long endurance, payload capacity and low operating cost are critical.

Watch the full behind-the-scenes interview to see how Cloudline is developing solar-powered autonomous airships for infrastructure, pipeline monitoring, mineral exploration and remote operations.

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