An African single air
transport market will be launched in January 2018, with
40 plus countries expected to be signatories by then.
So far, 20 African countries out of 55 have subscribed
to the African single air market.
This was announced by David Kajange, the Head of the
Transport and Tourism Division at the African Union (AU)
on Sunday, 2 July, on the sidelines of the ongoing 29th
AU Summit, underway in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.
A single air transport market is one of the goals of the
AU's Agenda 2063, aiming to connect Africa through
aviation and other transport infrastructure to achieve
integration and boost intra-Africa trade.
The single air transport market also aims to boost
African nations' tourism, economic growth and economic
development.
Kajange said Africa became the most expensive air
transport market in the world because of individual
nations' policies and regulations that hindered air
connectivity.
According to Euroavia International, a firm specialising
in consulting services for airports and the aviation
industry, air transport in Africa is on average twice as
expensive as the world average.
An African Open Skies vision has been there since 1980s,
culminating in the adoption of the Yamassoukro Decision
of African Heads of States of November 14, 1999.
However, between 2004 and 2014, despite sustained
economic growth on the continent, an increasing business
and tourism sector and growing middle class, the market
share of African airlines has dropped dramatically.
The loss of market share by African airlines has been
estimated by the AU to have decreased from 60% to below
2%. ¡V Source:
Xinhua |