ABSTRACT
Belying its title, the May 2015 'Aviation Africa' summit was not held on the continent, but in Dubai. The location of and patronage behind the May 2015 'Aviation Africa' summit in Dubai were powerful signals of 21st-century nodes and axes of influence in African skies. A second 'Aviation Africa' summit scheduled for 2017 will return the event to another small state, but this time in Africa, in Rwanda. The significance of the Gulf aviation powerhouse for Africa arises precisely because of geography: countries in North East Africa and the Middle East are near neighbours. Regional flights have served Arabic religious, cultural, social, and economic ties in the Middle East for decades, and major international airlines have long passed through the hour-glass waist of the Arab states. Emirates was the quickest of the three Gulf airlines into Africa. The growth of Turkish Airlines activity in Africa is no less striking than its Gulf rivals.
