Single African airline market on track

TWELVE countries, including South
Africa, signed up for the creation of
a single air-transport market on the
continent within two years at the
African Union (AU) Summit in Sandton
last month.
The African Union Commission
(AUC) is now calling for more AU
member states to sign up for the
project, which officials say could lead
to fewer restrictions on routes and
cheaper fares for passengers across
the continent.
The countries that have agreed in
principle to the project are South
Africa, Zimbabwe, Congo, Benin,
Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Egypt, Rwanda,
Kenya, Nigeria and Côte d'Ivoire.
African Ministers of Transport
declared their full support for the
proposal in January this year when
Transport Minister, Dipuo Peters,
hosted the meeting of the African
Ministerial Working Group on the
establishment of the proposed single
air-transport market for the continent.
 “Such an initiative, we believe,
will improve the movement of
people within the continent and will
improve business in the aviation
industry,” said AUC Commissioner for
Infrastructure and Energy, Dr Elham
Ibrahim.
She said at the moment there
were instances when passengers
from Africa had to fly to Europe to
connect to another African state,
adding that this was not acceptable.
The ministerial working group from
the 12 countries would still iron out
the details of the initiative and how it
would be implemented, she said.