Renewed focus on competition in African airspace

The second International Civil Aviation Organization Meeting on Air Cargo Development in Africa was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in June this year. The ICAO Meeting appears to have served as a catalyst for renewed focus on the implementation of the 1999 Yamoussoukro Declaration.

The Declaration aims to liberalise scheduled and non-scheduled air transport services on the African continent, partly in the interest of better consumer offerings, and includes express commitments by states to support fair competition in the aviation sector.

Implementation has been slow with state aviation agencies in some parts of the continent continuing to support protectionist policies. While protectionism is, for some aviation authorities, seen as a necessary means of competing against international airlines, other stakeholders, including the Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, Tewolde Gebremariam, have been reported to attribute the lack of competitiveness of African airlines to the failure to liberalise African airspace.

It appears that the ICAO Meeting has triggered renewed interest in implementation of the Declaration and a determination to lobby states to support fair and robust competition on intra-Africa airline routes.