African Countries Sign Commitment to AU’s Single African Sky amidst concerns

The African Union officially launched the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) five months ago. The initiative is part of the Agenda 2063 reform package and is meant to boost connectivity between African states, reduce fares and stimulate economic growth through air transport and tourism.

After the 30th Summit of Heads of States and Governments in January 2018, at the unveiling that has been three decades in the making, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, who doubles as current AU President, stressed the importance of the initiative in further integrating Africa and Africans.

“Today, we will launch the single African air transport market. This is a major step for transportation. We are nearly ready to adopt the continental free trade area,” Kagame said.

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In bringing the initiative to fruition, African nations hope to build a single aviation market similar to those in Europe and Latin America so as to encourage cross-border investment and innovation as well as improve business operations and efficiency across the continent.

The agreement, which was adopted in the Ivorian capital, Yamoussoukro, in 1999 by African ministers in charge of aviation, committed 44 signatory countries to deregulate air services and promote regional air markets open to transnational competition. However, only 23 African countries have launched the single African air transport market.

I happy to announce that, to date, 26 #Africa-n States have signed the Solemn Commitment for the establishment of the #SingleAfricanAirTransportMarket ~ @AUC_MoussaFaki @_AfricanUnion @au_ied @Afcac_Cafac #Aviation #SAATM #Togo pic.twitter.com/WOOIiaZE0F

— Amani Abou-Zeid (@HEDrAbouZeid) May 28, 2018

These include Benin, Burkina Faso, Botswana, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon and Ghana, who are fully committed, but excludes countries like Nigeria.

The country allegedly feels it would not benefit from SAATM because of its unresolved issues and the fact that Nigerians still require over 34 visas to travel within Africa alone.

According to a statement by the chairman of Airline Operators of Nigeria, Captain Nogie Meggison, “Nigerian airlines are at a disadvantage to other African airlines that are largely government-owned and heavily subsidised. For instance, South African Airways got on the average about US$350million yearly in the past decade; Kenya Airways got about US$600 million in 2016, while RwandAir has not published its financial results for over a decade. Yet they will be competing against Nigerian airlines with private finance at 28 percent.”

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He went on to call attention to Nigeria being the only country in Africa with eight entry points, while most of the other nations had only one entry point.

“Nigeria is simply not ready to handle the level of unfair competition that the full implementation of SAATM will bring upon the country.

“A full implementation at this time will lead to massive capital flight, huge loss of jobs for our youth and the mortgaging of our beloved children’s future, as well as the further collapse of the already failing Nigerian aviation system,” he added.

Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni has also expressed fear that SAATM will lead to the supremacy of African skies by already dominant African airlines. “A few airlines are going to dominate and that is not good,” Museveni said. He said he would prefer that African countries form regional airlines first before liberalising their skies.