African Union Set To Launch Single African Air Transport Market Brief Wednesday Jan 24 2018

An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 about to take off at Bole International airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

At the ongoing African Union (AU) Summit happening in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the first AU Agenda 2063 project is set to be launched. In a statement sent to press, the AU indicated that it will launch the ambitious liberalization project on the sidelines of the 30th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union. The Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) is set to revolutionalize air travel in Africa.

In a joint press briefing on Tuesday, the Ethiopian Ministry of Transport and the Ethiopian Airlines Group, announced their full support towards the realization of AU's "single African skies initiative."

Ahmed Shide, Ethiopian Minister of Transport, said that the initiative would "pave the way for other flagship projects such as the free trade area and the free movement of people."

The Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) is set to spur more opportunities to promote trade, cross-border investments in the production and service industries including tourism, resulting in the creation of an additional 300,000 direct and 2 million indirect jobs, according to the pan-African block.

The move comes two decades after the adoption of the 1999 Yamoussoukro Declaration, an agreement meant to open African skies.

Unfortunately, 80% of the African air transport is run by non-African companies. This is according to the AUC Commissioner for infrastructure and energy, Mrs. Amani Abou-Zeid. She further stated that the AU wants to make sure that the continent is integrated but by Africans.

This will boost African tourism, inter Africa trade, and a boost in regional integration particularly for landlocked countries and small islands.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) welcomes the move. In a statement, the CEO and director Alexander de Juniac said that all African states should join the new initiative to establish a single air transport market. He added that liberalization will improve air connectivity between African countries, encourage competition, reduce airfares, and create more jobs in the African aviation industry.

23 countries, including, Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Egypt and South Africa, have already opened their skies for African airlines to freely operate. About 44 countries have signed the Yamoussoukro Declaration. The African Union has a lot of advocacy work to do if it is to convince the other member states to adopt and implement the Single African Air Transport Market.

This is a big step towards the Pan African movement which advocates for the unhindered movement of all Africans in Africa.