…as commission is poised to improving 5th Freedom Traffic penetration in Africa
The Secretary General, Africa Civil Aviation Commission, AFCAC, Ms. Funke Adeyemi says, the commission is committed to improving the 5th Freedom Traffic penetration in Africa from the current level of 14.5% to 30% by 2025.
Speaking at the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) Pilot Implementation Project (PIP) under the theme “ACCELERATION OF AIR TRANSPORT LIBERALIZATION IN AFRICA TO IMPROVE CONTINENTAL CONNECTIVITY AND INTEGRATION” in Abuja, Ms. Adeyemi said, prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, 61% of intra-African routes were served with less than 1 daily flight.
She expressed optimism that as more 5th freedom traffic rights are granted through liberalization, airlines can manage to connect more city-pairs in Africa which will in turn lead to the full maximization of the benefits associated with the direct and indirect gains from a competitive environment.
According to her, the economic impact of air transport liberalization will be hugely beneficial to Nigeria following the econometric forecast of aviation traffic as a function of GDP, passenger volume to/from Nigeria has been forecasted to keep growing at 3.3% annually.
“According to a study on SAATM by Embraer (2020), in 2038, using traffic forecasts and economic impact estimates from ICAO, aviation could generate 800,000 jobs of which 60,000 would be directly associated with airline operations. The industry would contribute some US$1.3 billion to GDP. That number would rise to US$7.2 billion when factoring the induced and indirect catalytic effects of tourism”.
The AFCAC Scribe explained that, the main focus of the meeting is to engage with Nigerian stakeholders in different ways.
She listed the ways to include, to see how to intensify efforts to implement practical strategies and concrete actions to address the challenges preventing the achievement of the projected growth, share ideas to boost the development of air links to and from Nigeria and promote tourism.
Others are, trade and investment development especially through improvements in the regulatory framework, infrastructure investment as well as operational incentives for airlines in order to create a competitive environment for aviation business to thrive.
Ms. Adeyemi encouraged all Nigerian eligible airlines to take advantage of SAATM and expand their operations across Africa.
“We should also invest in infrastructure to ensure safe, secure, efficient, sustainable and competitive operational environments that promote easy connectivity, business growth and job creation across the African continent”.
She also called in all major stakeholders, government, airlines, airports, ANSP, trade, tourism industry to join hands in the implementation of SAATM.
