AfCFTA implementation hampered by barriers to air travel, intra-African trade — aviation experts

Easy movement of people in Africa, also facilitated by affordable airfares, without the hindrances of state boundaries, is one of the key prerequisites for the full implementation of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), according to stakeholders in the continent’s aviation industry.

Air transport, which facilitates free movement of people across nations with liberalized inter-state movement, is catalyst for economic development that would buoy and enhance intra-Africa trade and tourism — this was the main message coming from the recent 2024 MRO Africa Conference held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. While brainstorming on the challenges facing air travel in Africa, the aviation experts posited that trade and tourism on the continent could be boosted through visa waivers or visa on arrival protocol among individual African countries and this would only be possible through collaboration, partnerships and legislation by states.

“So, we need to create an environment to develop the traffic, the affordability of fares. That is why the single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) is important… If there is no activity between countries, it is difficult for an airline to open a route. And also, we are seeing still some visa restrictions between African countries. This also should be solved,” Secretary General of African Airlines Association (AFRAA), Mr. Abdelrahmane Berthe, said. According to Ethiopian Airlines’s CEO, Ato Mesfin Tasew, the development of the single African air transport market is also hindered by some countries and airlines that are unwilling to work with their fellow African airlines, but rather, prefer to work with European carriers, harping on fear of domination by another African carrier.