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African Aviation: Experts Canvass Common Strategy
- By Pearl Ngwama
- Published September 14th, 2009
- TravelWorld
- Unrated
CONCERNED by the state of the aviation industry in Africa, experts at the recently concluded 15th Aviation and Allied Business Leadership Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia have called for a common strategy to develop the industry.
At the summit which had its theme as “Air Transport in Africa: One Continent, One Strategy,” they lamented the non-implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision (YD), which they said is central to the liberalization of the African airspace.
They also decried decaying aviation infrastructure as well as the granting of frequencies to foreign airlines without reciprocity, a development, which they admitted, hinders the growth of African airlines.
The executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, Abdoulie Janneh maintained that in the process of African integration, air transport plays a vital role not just to integrate African airlines but also to unify the continent as a full and strong economic force.
He noted that air transport on the continent faces many challenges, which, he said, can affect continental integration which the African Union aims to achieve.
“Integration in Africa is not optimum; people still travel to Europe before they can get to their African destination and this is not helpful; that is why the integration process is good,” he said. According to him for Africa to achieve the theme of the summit, it must implement the Yamoussoukro Declaration so as to liberalise the continent’s airspace fully.
Speaking in the same vein, Secretary General of African Airlines Association (AFRA), Christian Folly-Kossi said the continent is duty bound to embrace a common strategy for its aviation industry.
Folly-Kossi, who steps down in December as AFRA general secretary after a10-year tenure, regretted that “ Africa has been unable to have a common position on the implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision.”
The Decision, according to him, “has featured in many aviation conferences over the years, but the more we talk about it, the less we take steps to actualize it.”
Some African countries, according to him, “have only entered into bilateral agreements with one another while ignoring the full implementation of the agreement.”
At the summit which had its theme as “Air Transport in Africa: One Continent, One Strategy,” they lamented the non-implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision (YD), which they said is central to the liberalization of the African airspace.
They also decried decaying aviation infrastructure as well as the granting of frequencies to foreign airlines without reciprocity, a development, which they admitted, hinders the growth of African airlines.
The executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, Abdoulie Janneh maintained that in the process of African integration, air transport plays a vital role not just to integrate African airlines but also to unify the continent as a full and strong economic force.
He noted that air transport on the continent faces many challenges, which, he said, can affect continental integration which the African Union aims to achieve.
“Integration in Africa is not optimum; people still travel to Europe before they can get to their African destination and this is not helpful; that is why the integration process is good,” he said. According to him for Africa to achieve the theme of the summit, it must implement the Yamoussoukro Declaration so as to liberalise the continent’s airspace fully.
Speaking in the same vein, Secretary General of African Airlines Association (AFRA), Christian Folly-Kossi said the continent is duty bound to embrace a common strategy for its aviation industry.
Folly-Kossi, who steps down in December as AFRA general secretary after a10-year tenure, regretted that “ Africa has been unable to have a common position on the implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision.”
The Decision, according to him, “has featured in many aviation conferences over the years, but the more we talk about it, the less we take steps to actualize it.”
Some African countries, according to him, “have only entered into bilateral agreements with one another while ignoring the full implementation of the agreement.”
