IATA: Aviation taxes in Africa are 15% higher than the global average

• Accident rate highest among all regions

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has recently intensified its advocacy for African governments to integrate aviation as a pillar of their national economic strategies.

Meanwhile, the clearing house for more than 300 global airlines lamented that the cost of doing business in African aviation is high.

Removing roadblocks to ease doing business, it noted, is essential for aviation to thrive.

A key element of this is the taxes and charges by governments and infrastructure providers, the burden of which is about 15% higher in Africa than the global average.

 This push comes at a critical juncture for the continent, where the sector is seen as a primary driver for trade, tourism, and job creation.

To unlock the full potential of African aviation, the group identified several priority areas requiring urgent government intervention, including implementing the Single Africa Air Transport Market (SAATM), which remains the cornerstone of regional connectivity.

IATA urges states to move beyond signatures and focus on practical implementation to eliminate restrictive bilateral agreements.

Other priorities include reducing high airport taxes, fees, and charges, which it said are among the highest globally; maintaining global safety standards through the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA); and aligning national regulations with ICAO standards, which are essential for building international investor confidence.

It urged governments to view airports as economic engines rather than revenue cows.

IATA’s Regional Vice President for Africa and the Middle East, Kamil Alawadhi, at Focus Africa Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, said, “Aviation is economic infrastructure for Africa. Its value lies in the long‑term benefits it delivers.”

“An aviation strategy focused on safety, cost-competitiveness, energy security/sustainability, and ease of doing business will create jobs, enable trade, support tourism, and further regional integration. The prosperity this generates will allow governments to push forward social and economic development more durably than any tax that might be collected from travellers.”

He noted that the continent has made significant progress in aviation safety, explaining that between 2024 and 2025, the accident rate fell from 12.13 to 7.86 per million sectors, but remains well above the global average of 1.32 and is the highest among all regions.

To further improve safety in Africa, IATA called for all parties in IATA’s Collaborative Aviation Safety Improvement Program (CASIP) to mobilise resources in three areas, including increasing the implementation of ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs).

Average effective implementation across 46 of 48 Sub-Saharan African states stands at 60.34%, compared with the global average of 69.46% and the global target of 75%.

Between 2019 and 2023, only 19% of accident reports were completed, compared with a global average of 63%. Accident investigation reports that are delayed, incomplete, or unpublished withhold valuable safety insights that can improve safety.

This underscores the need for improved compliance with state investigation obligations under Annex 13 of the Chicago Convention.

While treaties and bilateral agreements stipulate the right of airlines to repatriate revenues earned across their networks, governments’ failure to comply with these obligations, it said, results in funds being blocked.

African countries, it reiterated, account for the largest proportion of global blocked funds, with a total of $774 million blocked as of end-March 2026.

Algeria accounts for the highest amount of blocked funds, at USD 258 million, followed by the XAF Zone ($105 million), Mozambique ($82 million), Eritrea ($78 million), and Angola ($73 million).

“Given the scale of funds blocked in Algeria, urgent and decisive government action in Algeria is essential. But our efforts to engage with the Ministry of Trade and Export Promotion and the Central Bank have received little responsiveness, and airlines continue to face delays despite complying with burdensome requirements. In Algeria, and all locations where airlines are denied access to their revenues, governments must engage with the industry to find a sustainable solution or risk the consequences on connectivity,” said Alawadhi.

Wole Shadare