General assembly of African Airlines Association: Calls to African Governments to unlock barriers that obstruct inter African connectivity

Raphael-Kuuchi-International Air Transport Association (IATA) Vice President for Africa.

Calls to African Governments and stakeholders to unlock barriers that hamper inter African connectivity took centre stage at the just concluded 49th annual general .assembly of African Airlines Association (AFRAA) in Kigali, Rwanda.

It was noted that only 22 African states had signed up for full implementation of the Yamoussoukro declaration of November 1999 for the liberation of access to air transport markets across Africa, yet only a few had followed through on the commitment with the potential to stimulate the development of inter African air transport and the realization of aviation’s economic and social benefits.

The Director General and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of International Air Transport Association (IATA) Mr Alexandre de Juniac said in a speech read on his behalf by the organization’s Vice President for Africa Mr Raphael Kuuchi that many opportunities to build African economies had been lost  because convenient flight connections were not available.

He urged African governments to help airlines surmount perennial losses on many fronts including passengers. “For each passenger an African airline carries, US$1.50 is lost. We cannot continue this way while airlines in other regions are making profits and invading our air market,” he said.

“Besides restrictive air space, losses for African airlines are caused by higher taxes, higher fuel and infrastructure charges and perceived poor safety,” said  Mr de Juniac.

He said airline safety standards had seen tremendous improvement over the years but there were still lots of work to be done to reach the global all accident average of 1.6 per million flights. He thanked both IATA and AFRAA for making International Operation Safety Audit (OASA) a requirement for membership.

Mr de Juniac regretted that only 40 per cent of African airlines had fully implemented the IATA ground operations manual into their ground procedures.

He said only 23 African states had implemented at least 60% of the International Civil Aviation Organization’s standards and recommended practices on safety oversight.

On the blocking of airline funds by countries experiencing   lower oil and commodity prices, Mr de Juniac said the practice was tantamount to undermining the efficient operations of airlines struggling to stay afloat. He said airlines could not maintain services if they cannot repatriate their ticket sales at fair exchange rates on time.

“To do business efficiently, airlines must be able to reliably repatriate their revenues,” he said and cited Angola, Algeria, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sudan and Zimbabwe among nations notorious for withholding airline funds.

Rwanda Prime Minister   Mr Edouard Ngirente who represented President Paul Kagame at the occasion called on African governments and airlines to harmonize their operations in areas such as airport taxes, improvement and expansion of aviation infrastructure and the training of required personnel. He called on countries yet to sign the Yamoussoukro Decision to do so as a matter of urgency.

The outgoing President of AFRAA Col. Chance Ndagano who is the Chief Executive Officer of RwandAir said the loss of market share by African airlines and poor financial performance called for concerted redress by Governments. He gave the example of Rwanda where support from the government had enabled RwandAir to make a positive contribution to the region’s industry within a brief period of 10 years.

Outgoing AFRAA Secretary General   Dr Elijah Chingosho urged stakeholder to increase momentum to foster increased intra African trade.

The assembly confirmed the appointment of Mr Abderahmane Berthe, a former airline CEO as new Secretary General of AFRAA to take over from Dr Chingosho.

Group Chairman of EgyptAir  Mr Safwat  Musallam was elected chairman of AFRAA Executive Committee, the acting CEO of RwandAir Col Ndagano the first Vice Chairman and the Chief Executive of Kenya airways Mr Sebastian  Micosz the second Vice Chairman.

Royal Air Maroc was bestowed the responsibility to host the 50 AFRAA Annual Assembly in Rabat, Morocco next year. Ethiopian Airlines was crowned Africa’s Airline of the year for exceptional financial performance and extensive intra African network in 2016.

Opinion
In-tray full for incoming engineering lobby leaders ahead of defining polls
Financial Standard
State of economy: Prioritise fundamentals for sustained growth and stable exchange rate
Business
Kenya tops regional peers and China in growth prospects among executives
Business
Absa Bank investors get record Sh7b dividend after bank posts Sh16b profit