Chronicle Editor
Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
THE African Union Commission (AUC) will on Sunday launch the Single African Air Transport Market which seeks to promote free skies policy and integration on the continent.
The launch, which will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is in line with the Yamoussoukro Declaration on open skies policy adopted by the continental body in 1999.
The Single Air Transport Market (SAATM) is the first move by the continent in fulfilment of its Agenda 2063 to enhance connectivity, facilitate trade and tourism, create employment and ensuring the industry plays a more prominent role in the global economy.
In a statement, AUC Commissioner for infrastructure and energy, Dr Amani Abou-Zeid, said 23 African countries including Zimbabwe, out of 55 have subscribed to SAATM whereas 44 were signatory to the Yamoussoukro Declaration.
“The African Union Commission is set to launch the first AU Agenda 2063 flagship project, the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 28 January 2018 as a historic event at the African Union Summit.
“The launch will 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 two million indirect jobs thereby contributing immensely to the integration and socio-economic growth of the continent,” said Dr Abou-Zeid.
She said the aviation industry presently supports eight million jobs in Africa.
The launch will be marked with an exhibition termed “Flying the AU Agenda 2063 for an integrated, peaceful and prosperous Africa.”
Dr Abou-Zeid bemoaned slow uptake of the open skies policy by member states who have failed to complement the key coordinating and advocacy role played by AUC.
The African Civil Aviation Commission, the International Civil Aviation Organisation, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the African Airlines Association have been working with AUC advising African countries to open their skies for enhancement of connectivity and efficiency of air services on the continent.
This is the first of 12 AU’s Agenda 2063 flagship projects to be launched and will pave way for other initiatives such as the African Passport and the Continental Free Trade Area to enable free movement of people and goods.
SAATM project was adopted by the AU assembly in 2015 as member states committed themselves to full implementation of the Yamoussoukro Declaration which provides for full liberalisation of market access, free exercise of traffic rights, elimination of restrictions on ownership and full liberalisation of frequencies, fares and capacities between African states.
Last year, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), a regional trading bloc comprising 19 countries including Zimbabwe, intimated that the open skies concept where airlines from the region would fly directly to any destination in the regional bloc was to be piloted this year.
Comesa has been crafting a regulatory framework meant to liberalise aviation space and harmonise aviation laws in the past two years.
Experts say air traffic on the continent will grow by an annual average of 5.1 percent in the next 18 years, outpacing the global projected average of 4.7 percent according to IATA. IATA has warned that protecting small, fragmented and closed markets could end up hampering the development of air services by limiting their potential to contribute to development and economic growth.
At the same time, experts have urged African countries to create more airlines, especially low-cost carriers, to serve the continent’s internal air transport needs. — @ncubeleon.
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