February 1-15, 2018
The launch of Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) at the just concluded 30th session of the African Union (AU) Summit held at Addis Ababa is perceived to be a game – changer. SAATM is expected to play a critical role in achieving the long-term vision of an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, besides making intra-African air travel swifter, easier and affordable.
Billed as one of the precursors to the pan-African integration by 2063, SAATM is a logical next step to the African Union Passport started in 2016 and to be completed by 2020. In tangible terms, these steps will lead to lesser time African citizens spend filing visa forms, reduce time spend at the airports, overcome bizarre of complex and time-consuming air routes, greater freedom to airlines to set up offices in neighbouring countries etc. Importantly, it brings African Union a step closer to the big ticket Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) to be put in place by the end of 2018, which envisages, among other things, seamless flow of goods and services.
The positive spin-offs of the SAATM are manifold. Foremost, the intra-continental travellers are often faced with illogical and time –consuming air routes and are forced to take air routes through Europe and the Middle East for travelling between two African countries, even to the neighbouring ones. SAATM, also referred as open sky policy can enthuse proliferation of airlines like what has happened in India through schemes like UDAN (subsidized air travel to tier two and three cities, which are either un-served or underserved). Presently 80% of the long haulage routes in Africa are serviced by the foreign airlines.
In the process, a string of airports and helipads both in the Green and Brownfields can come up in Africa strengthening its aviation network. Easy accessibility to geographies can spur businesses, particularly tourism and manufacturing, creating millions of gainful employment directly or indirectly. The proposal to have a single regulatory system for the whole of Africa will lead to uniform and transparent policies in the aviation sector.
An IATA survey suggests that if just 12 key African countries open their markets and increased connectivity, an extra 155,000 jobs and US$1.3 billion in annual GDP could be created in those countries. In 2015, the African Civil Aviation Commission and IATA commissioned a study on the benefits of air transport liberalization- open sky policy- among five East African Community countries — Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Kenya. The results showed that it added 46,320 jobs, increased GDP by $202.1 million per annum, accelerated traffic by 46 percent, reduced airfares by 9 percent and increased frequency by 41 percent.
Presently, SAATM is endorsed by 23 countries and 32 more countries have to ratify the program before it enters the implementation stage. Mobilization of resources, inviting the right type of investors, who have a deep pocket to run aviation companies, construction of new airports and modernization of the existing ones, the creation of a strong regulatory mechanism etc are the other issues to be chased.
Sheila Sudhakaran
