The Minister of Transport and Logistics, Alemu Sime, said Ethiopia will continue working on the implementation of the Intra-African Air Transport Market (SAATM) until the project is fully operational.
A two-day Ethiopian Accelerated Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) Stakeholder Exhibition kicks off today. In his opening statement, the Minister of Transport and Logistics, Alemu Sime, said that the African domestic air transport market is moving forward with a pilot implementation plan that strongly requires the commitment of signatories and that the Ethiopian government will continue to work on the plan until the project is implemented.
According to him, the aviation industry can undoubtedly be considered the best opportunity to connect African countries with each other and with the rest of the world.
“While it is evident that aviation in Africa has the potential to fuel economic growth, the challenges we already have could turn into opportunities, as the benefits of aviation outweigh the challenges,” he noted.
According to him, weak aviation infrastructure, high ticket prices, and poor or lack of liberalization are some of the continent’s challenges that can be solved if Africans come together and work towards a common united future.
“Ethiopia, being the second most populous nation in Africa next to Nigeria, and yet landlocked, the role played by Ethiopian Airlines is indispensable. The airlines which are the only national carrier of the country serve as the gateway for the country’s social, economic, and political relation with the rest of the world,” Alemu stressed.
The Jamusukro Decision (YD), which aims to open up the air transport sector and provide African carriers with unrestricted access to the African Single Market, is far from being fully implemented, according to Mengistu Nigussie, Deputy Director General of the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority.
The slow implementation of YD is due to lack of institutional and legal framework, lack of resources and coordination and lack of cooperation among African airlines, he said, adding that “lack of political will seems to be the culprit”.
“As you are well aware, air transport has strategic importance for Africa, due to the low quality of alternative modes of transport such as roads, rail and shipping. It also has strategic importance due to its economic importance. It is thus the responsibility of each and every African state to ensure that such a critical economic sector is not put at a competitive disadvantage due to the aggressive penetration of foreign carriers into the continent’s market,” Mengistu elaborated.
The Secretary-General of the African Civil Aviation Commission, Adefunke Adeyemi, said Africa needs to increase airline penetration and stimulate markets.
“It is clear that aviation in Africa is seen as a luxury,” she said, stressing that “it shouldn’t be”.
Adeyemi explained that Ethiopia plays a key role in Africa’s largest aviation market, the largest airlines and the largest infrastructure, as well as the largest airport and the maintenance, training and capacity building facilities it offers.
“So we see Ethiopia playing a critical role in doing that and continuing to play a role through cooperation with other carriers in other states and supporting the continent,” she underscored.
A study on the benefits of SAATM to the continent predicts that intra-African traffic will increase by 51% within 2 to 3 years, while average fares will decrease by 26%, saving $1.46 billion in annual fees.
The African Internal Air Transport Market is a flagship project of the African Union Agenda 2063, which aims to integrate the African continent’s air transport market, achieve economic integration and interconnections to make air transport on the African continent sustainable, efficient and unified.
