AFRICAN economies need to
grow, stabilise and become
more sustainable before
the continent can take the
step towards an open-skies
policy, according to Jan de
Vegt, coo of Kenya Airways.
Addressing delegates on
the first day of the Air Cargo
Africa 2017 conference
at Emperors Palace in
Johannesburg recently, Jan
said Africa was still in its
baby shoes when it came to
liberalisation.
“Aviation on the continent
is expensive, and while
trade policies are becoming
more inclusive, a lot of
economies need to grow
to stimulate the kind of
public- and private-sector
investment that is needed
to facilitate open skies,”
he said.
“For example, just getting
fuel to an airport at the
moment is more expensive
than the global average
because of transport
infrastructural challenges.
Until those kinds of
challenges are addressed
and the industry in general
is more competitive, we
cannot look at open skies.”
He added that policy and
regulatory harmonisation
between states was also
needed.
Africa still has more ways to go towards open skies
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