Emirates Airline will not be acquiring or entering into a joint venture with an African airline, but it will act as an aviation consultant to the Angolan government on how to improve its state-owned carrier, ArabianBusiness reports.

Gulf airlines including Emirates are giving African carriers huge competition, an expert said.

They can operate in most African air spaces “very freely” and this has been key to their increasing dominance, said Agnes Gitau, international trade and investment consultant at the East Africa Business Network, in an ArabianBusiness interview.

Overall, African carriers need revival, Gitau said.

Emirates Airline Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum insists his airline’s resources are better spent expanding the global network from its base in Dubai than on acquiring struggling African airlines.

“Why would I have to look into any business of buying or acquiring an airline if I have 35 new aircraft coming in this year?” he told reporters at the Dubai Airshow. “That’s an airline by itself. At the end of the day, it’s all about resourcing.”

However Emirates is willing to offer advisory services to other African governments struggling to make their national carriers commercially successful, he said.

Emirates flies to 20 African countries, most recently adding Bamaku, Mali, to its routes Oct. 25. Other destinations include Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Ethiopia and Zambia.

Increased business activity between Africa and Asia has helped Emirates, national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, become one of the largest airlines operating in Africa, according to a report in HowWeMadeItInAfrica.

Emirates plans to add 10 African destinations in 10 years, said Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airline, at the 2014 Africa Global Business Forum in Dubai, according to a report in AddisStandard.

When it comes to aviation, African has got it all wrong, Gitau said. “(The Gulf carriers) are very well financed and have put their money where their mouth is and that’s incredible, but because of their presence and strength, African airlines have struggled, with the exception of a few.”

Ethiopian Airlines is one exception. The airline invested a lot of capital and resources into improving. The African private sector helped Ethiopian provide competition in the market. “I think this is a model others should emulate,” Gitau said.

Overall the sector needs revival, she said.

“(Africa) must have bargaining and compete. We can’t just open up our airspace without asking, how does this impact on our own businesses and economic growth?”

Cheick Modibo Diarra, former acting prime minister of Mali, said he hopes Emirates will establish regional hubs in African countries to service the continent, ArabianBusiness reports.

By Emirates creating African aircraft infrastructure, it will allow African countries to expand their own carriers, Diarra said. “I believe it will be very beneficial financially for (Emirates) because this is a continent that is absolutely full of people who want to travel but who can’t.”

The concept of regional hubs won’t work for Emirates, its chairman said.

African countries could at least offer shares in their airlines to investors from the Gulf and beyond, Gitau said.