Complex air service agreements hindering Africa’s aviation industry

The complex framework of air services agreements greatly fragments air services markets, Council President of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has said.

According to Dr Olumuyiwa Bernard Aliu, air traffic rights are governed by a complex framework of over 5,000 bilateral air services agreements and arrangements and these act as barriers among air services markets.

“This fragmentation is a key impediment to the sustainability of air transport, and the seamlessness that is required to achieve more unified operations and reap the environmental, safety and economic benefits that ensue,” Dr Aliu noted.

He was speaking at the 2nd ICAO meeting on the Sustainable Development of Air Transport in Africa hosted in Accra.

Dr Aliu said aviation supports almost seven million jobs and $72 billion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Africa today and for Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDC) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), it represents an essential lifeline to regional and global markets which enhance travel and tourism and other vital business activities.

“In Africa, therefore, we should aim for a seamless air transport economy in the broadest sense, which supposes, in turn, a more seamless regulatory framework,” the ICAO Council President proposed.

Dr Aliu stated that another challenge facing Africa’s aviation industry is the unavailability of infrastructure.

He said the rapid growth of air traffic will place increased pressure on existing aviation capacity and it is currently projected that no fewer than 24 airports in Africa will be saturated by 2020.

“And yet despite air transport’s demonstrated contributions to local and regional economic growth, air transport development projects, on an aggregated basis, only receive around 4% of total Official Development Assistance (ODA) each year, while road network infrastructure is allocated over 50%,” Dr Aliu lamented.

He said in other to fill this investment gap, African states are encouraged to take pragmatic measures to build a transparent, stable and predictable investment climate to support aviation development.

The 2nd ICAO meeting on the Sustainable Development of Air Transport in Africa was organised in collaboration with the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), the Ghana Airports Company Limited and the Ministry of Aviation.

It is a follow up on the Declaration of the Sustainable Development of Air Transport in Africa adopted in Antananarivo, Madagascar on March 27, 2015 (the Antananarivo Declaration).