IATA and Africa: What Have You Done for Me Lately?

There is a particular question that every long-standing relationship eventually invites: What have you done for me lately? It is not necessarily always an accusation. Sometimes it is an invitation to take stock. Sometimes it is a demand for evidence. And sometimes it is simply the question asked by someone who has heard the promises for long enough and would now like to see the results.

For African aviation, that question may reasonably be put to the International Air Transport Association: IATA, what have you done for Africa lately?

Yes, the question is deliberately provocative. It should, however, not be mistaken for a dismissal of IATA’s contribution. The organisation has been an important voice for airlines and a persistent advocate for safer, more efficient and more commercially viable air transport. Its technical standards, industry data, settlement systems, safety programmes and policy advocacy matter.

Indeed, IATA’s Focus Africa initiative is an acknowledgement that Africa requires particular attention. The initiative identifies six priorities—safety, infrastructure, connectivity, finance and distribution, sustainability, and future skills—and explicitly seeks measurable progress across the continent. But precisely because IATA has recognised Africa’s potential and has been engaged with the continent for decades, the question is legitimate. Where is the transformation?

Africa remains the aviation market that promises much and captures too little of its promise. IATA’s own numbers tell an uncomfortable story. African airlines continue to operate with the thinnest margins in the world. Unit costs are extraordinarily high; fuel prices are elevated; taxes and charges are roughly 15 per cent above the global average; and fragmented markets prevent carriers from achieving economies of scale.

The irony is striking. Africa needs aviation to connect its people, move its goods, support tourism, attract investment and integrate its economies. Yet the cost of flying within Africa remains a barrier to precisely those activities.

Only about 19 per cent of intra-African routes have direct flights. The continent is geographically enormous but commercially fragmented, and the traveller often discovers that getting from one African capital to another can require an absurd detour through Europe or the Middle East. This is where the conversation about IATA must become more ambitious.

Let us be fair. IATA does not make African aviation policy. It does not issue traffic rights. It does not build airports. It does not set national taxes. It cannot force an African government to open its skies or prevent a ministry from imposing another charge on an airline. Those responsibilities belong principally to governments, regulators and regional institutions.

But IATA has some things almost as important as formal regulatory authority: voice, expertise, data, convening power, and access to the global aviation industry. That gives it the ability—and arguably the responsibility—to move beyond describing Africa’s problems to helping build the coalitions capable of solving them. IATA has already demonstrated this ability. IATA is not Africa’s regulator, but it can be Africa’s catalyst.

Its recent work on API and PNR systems, for example, has seen IATA join the African Airlines Association and the Airlines Association of Southern Africa in urging African governments to align passenger data systems with ICAO standards and avoid imposing government border security costs on airlines and passengers.

The Real Question Is Connectivity. The Single African Air Transport Market was supposed to change the game. The logic is almost embarrassingly obvious: if Africa wants economic integration, Africans must be able to move around Africa efficiently.

The African Union understood this when it established SAATM as a flagship Agenda 2063 project. IATA supports the initiative and has argued that greater market opening could generate substantial economic benefits. Its analysis suggests that opening markets and improving connectivity in just 12 key African countries could create an additional 155,000 jobs and $1.3 billion in annual GDP.

So why does the continent still struggle to connect itself? The answer is partly political. Governments protect markets. Bilateral agreements remain restrictive. Visas remain barriers. Airport charges remain high. Taxes multiply. Infrastructure remains uneven. But this is precisely where IATA’s influence should be tested.

If IATA can persuade governments in other parts of the world to adopt common standards and commercial practices, it should be able to build a more aggressive African coalition around open skies, competitive charges and seamless connectivity. Africa does not need another conference explaining why SAATM is important. Africa needs SAATM to work.

There is another uncomfortable issue: IATA represents airlines, yet Africa does not merely need more flights. It needs stronger African airlines. The continent cannot achieve meaningful aviation sovereignty if its carriers remain structurally weak, financially fragile and overly dependent on foreign hubs.

IATA itself acknowledges the structural disadvantages: fragmented markets, older fleets, expensive fuel, high taxes and charges, and corporate tax rates averaging around 28 per cent—the highest regional average in its analysis. This raises a deeper question: What can IATA do to help African airlines become more competitive rather than merely survive?

There should be a more deliberate programme to improve the competitiveness of African airlines. Not another report, a programme.