How politics, others stalled Africa’s single airspace market, by IATA

●28 nations sign up to air pact

The slow process of ensuring that all 54 states of African countries sign to the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) is because of high protection of borders by many of the nations, Director-General of International Air Transport Association (IATA), Alexandre de Juniac, has stated.

The IATA boss disclosed this to Woleshadarenewsafter the conclusion of its 75th Annual General Meeting (AGM) and World Air Transport Summit (WATS) in Seoul, South Korea.

Specifically, he said the reluctant countries also think that signing up to African Open Skies will kill any initiative of national carriers, the reasons they don’t want to open their borders.

He explained that it is all about political control and sovereignty issues, stressing that IATA was pushing for accelerated signing of the pact by all countries because of the vista of opportunities and profitability it would bring to airlines in the region.

His words: “I think they are similar to those of Yamoussoukro Declaration, which has been there for 20 years. Firstly, it is political reason. You are touching on a subject that has sovereignty and economic reasons because some of the incumbent airlines owned by governments want to protect their airspace and their operators against what they perceive as threatening competition.

They also think that it will kill any initiative of national carrier – the reasons they don’t want to open their borders. It is all about political control and sovereignty issues. It is protection and political issue.”

Twenty eight nations had so far committed to the treaty, but only 14 had signed the memorandum of implementation by last November.

Kenya is yet to align its national laws with the treaty and as such, it could not sign on to its implementation. SAATM holds the promise of opening up the continent’s air connectivity.

Experts say air traffic on the continent will grow by an annual average of 5.1 per cent in the next 18 years, outpacing the global projected average of 4.7 per cent, according to IATA.

Yet while more flights are linking big cities than they did decade ago, most airlines based in sub-Saharan Africa are losing money due to stiff competition from Gulf, Turkish and European carriers on transcontinental routes.

As demand for air travel grows, countries are rushing to launch or revive national carriers. Countries often want to have their own carrier as a matter of national pride. However, African aviation history shows that state-owned carriers are hardly commercially sustainable.

Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal are struggling to establish viable national carriers. Undaunted by past experiences, some of these countries are dusting off old plans. And now a rising middle class and new economic opportunities are reawakening national aviation dreams.

Côte d’Ivoire, where the Yamoussoukro Decision was reached, has relaunched its own airline to serve destinations in West Africa. Uganda is mulling over the idea of establishing its own airline, as neighbouring Tanzania Air is trying to survive the tough times.

The IATA chief warned countries that have made up their mind on airport privatisation, warning that privatisation is not a magic solution to infrastructure development.

‘We tell governments that they have to manage with infrastructure,” he said. “We have several ways of doing it and advise them to be cautious before rushing to privatisation. We have management contracts, concession contracts before selling the assets. We urge governments to consider all options. If they have chosen some of the solutions that are provided by the guidelines, we have to tell them. We have seen so many bad experiences and good ones; we have been able to give them best guidelines for best practices. We understand that many governments might go for privatisation to attract private funds because they don’t have budget and public funds to finance the airports.”

The existing infrastructure is causing problems for the airlines in Africa. With passenger growth of +7.5 per cent in 2017, the continent’s airports are facing major challenges.

In some cases, the existing airports are not designed for the ever-growing number of passengers. In recent years, governments and increasingly foreign investors have invested more and more in infrastructure and especially in airports.

Chinese investors and banks in particular have recently increased their investments in Africa. China frequently invests in infrastructure and receives access to raw materials from African countries in return.

Wole Shadare