The idea of a single air transport market for Africa has been in play since 1999 when African Civil Aviation ministers adopted the Yamousoukro Declaration (YD), named after the Ivorian city that hosted the meeting, calling for a liberalization of African skies for African airlines. Aimed at establishing a single African air transport market by avoiding market restrictions imposed by bilateral air service agreements, the decision has not seen much in terms of execution. [pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
This narrative may be changing for the better as African heads of state and governments have passed a resolution for the immediate implementation of the YD and the establishment of a single air transport market in Africa by 2017. This happened during the recently concluded 24th Session of the African Union held in its headquarters at Addis Ababa. “African skies are not open to African airlines. The African air transport market is still restricted by protectionist bilateral air service agreements. This has enabled non-African carriers to dominate African skies.
Currently, non-African carriers carry 80 percent of the passenger traffic on the intra-African routes,” reads a statement justifying the renewed focus on the YD. The resolution expressed “commitment to the immediate implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision towards the establishment of a single African air transport market and open our air transport market to each other.” Additionally, it entrusted the AU Commission to coordinate and facilitate the process of operating the Single Air Transport Market in Africa; and to report to the Conference of Ministers of Transport.
This renewed commitment bears the endorsement of 11 African governments representing Benin, Cape Verde, Congo Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Zimbabwe. According to the AU, these countries will constitute as a working group at ministerial level in order to achieve this goal; other countries are expected to join in. Seeing as the implementation of the YD has dragged for close to two decades, it must be a relatively controversial issue. While countries like Ethiopia, Kenya and South Africa that have strong national carriers have been pushing for its implementation, others with not-so-established airlines continue to express sentiments that their airlines could be “cannibalized,” in a sense, by the more dominant carriers. Be that as it may, the argument for the YD’s implementation is superior to other sentiments because of the significant gains that can accrue from a successful implementation. At the 46th annual general assembly of the African Airlines Association (AFRAA), Tewolde Gebremariam, CEO of the Ethiopian Airlines Group said; “African states often speak of African economies integration but ironically most African states deny traffic rights to African airlines and grant it to non-African carriers, mostly to Gulf carriers. This has to change.” “Africa must become one single unified market without any restriction for African airlines. The continued fragmentation of our skies is only benefiting foreign carriers and will lead to our certain demise.
African governments must act now and fast to unify African skies, which would also give great impetus to the continent’s economic integration,” he added. A recent study commissioned by International Air Transport Association (IATA) lists the benefits African states could harvest by liberating the air transport market. Conducted on 12 countries, the study indicates that the 12 countries could generate an additional 1.3 billion dollars to their GDP and create some 155,000 extra jobs by simply liberalizing their markets. Also, the study indicates that Ethiopia could create 14,800 more jobs in addition to boosting its GDP by $59.8 million.(VENTURES AFRICA)
