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Single African Air Transport Market and what it implies

Twenty-three African states, including South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, have launched a single aviation market in a bid to boost connectivity, reduce fares and stimulate economic growth in a continent widely considered the most expensive and inconvenient to fly.

Three decades after the concept was first proposed, the 55-member African Union unveiled the first phase of the Single African Air Transport Market as officials hope it will eventually replicate the European Common Aviation Area, which allows airlines from member states to fly between any member state.

Africa accounts for about 15% of the world’s population but only 3% of the world’s aviation traffic, according to the International Civil Aviation Organisation, a UN agency.

The new market dates back to 1988 when some African countries agreed to liberalise the aviation sector. This was formalised in the 1999 Yamoussoukro Decision, in which 44 states agreed to start liberalising air transport, but it has never been implemented until now.

For the single market to fully succeed the remaining AU members need to join, as greater investment is needed by airports and airlines, safety must be improved, and civil aviation oversight standards have to be harmonised and increased.

Raphael Kuuchi, IATA’s vice-president for Africa, welcomed the new single market as “momentous”, but stressed that the “benefits of a connected continent will only be realised through effective implementation”. 

AU officials hope travellers will start to see tangible benefits in about six months.

What are the benefits?

An immediate benefit of the Single Air Market will be enhanced connectivity between African Nations and a reduction in flight ticket prices.

A 2015 study commissioned by the African Civil Aviation Commission and the International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade body of almost 300 airlines, estimated that full liberalisation of the sector among 12 of the biggest economies on the continent would add $1.3bn to their economic output, and generate 155,000 new jobs and fare decrease of up to 35%.

In addition, liberalized airline routes on the continent will likely result in a boost to the long-touted potential of intra-African tourism.

Last year, a United Nations Conference on Trade and Development report showed that between 1995 and 2014, while the total number of international tourist arrivals to Africa more than doubled, Africans accounted for only four in every 10 visitors.

Making it easier for Africans to visit African countries without the hassle of long, paperwork-laden visa applications or expensive, long-winding air travel will inadvertently boost Africa’s tourism revenues even further.

Meanwhile, Countries that have signed up include Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Togo and Zimbabwe.

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