The Single Africa Air Transport Market (SAATM),whichisintendedto reform intra-Africa market access and resolve the lack of intra-Africa connectivity, is still far from pan-African implementation and is faced with many challenges.
Thats the opinion of several aviation experts.
During the African Aviation MRO 2024 summit in Addis Ababa last month, Afraa Secretary GeneralAbderahmane Bertherevealed that, since the fourth quarter of 2023, passenger traffic on the continent had reached pre-pandemic levels.Despite this, and the prediction by Afraa that in 2024 passenger traffic may exceed 2019 levelswith98 million passengers served, the number of connections across the continent is far lower than its potential. He said the African aviation community must continue ongoing joint efforts to transform and foster sustainable and resilient air transport systems.
We need to create an environment to develop the traffic, the affordability of fares. That is why the SAATM isimportant, also the African Continental Free Trade Area. If there is no activity between countries, it is difficult for an airline to open a route And I think African airlines also are not co-operating muchThis is something that needs to be changed,he said.
ChallengesSAATM has recently faced criticism for its lack of ability to implement and enforce standardisations in reciprocal charges, fees and traffic rights.
Regional and domestic carrier Airlinks CEO and MD, Rodger Foster, told Travel News that the SAATM pilot implementationprojectcurrentlybeing tested had made apparent the need for a standardised approach to determining and applyingchargesand fees for permits, licences,use ofair navigationand airport services, ground-handling and more.
Although the participating countries have opened their markets to airlines from other countries on a bilateral basis, many apply differentialcharges and fees to protect theirowncarriers from competition from airlines designated by those other countries. For example, SouthAfricasauthorities might charge an airline fromRwandaatthe same tariffs it chargesa South African carrier.
However, Rwanda does not reciprocate and applies far higher fees on operators from South Africa (and other countries) than itdoes on itsownairline,explains Foster.
Last week, the Chairman of Air Peace,Allen Onyema, raised similar concerns and criticisms aboutSAATM implementation,at the 48th Annual General Meeting of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies in Lagos.
While Onyema acknowledgedSAATMspotential as akeypolicy in liberalising African air transport, he criticisedthe policyfor not addressing disparities in regulations and fees among its members. According to Onyema, many African airlines enjoy easy access to Nigerian cities and airports, however Nigerian airlines face exorbitant fees to gain access to other African countries. He called on SAATM and other African countries to level the playing field.
SAATM can benefit all through collective efforts and addressing its imbalances.Africaspotential will remain untapped unless Africans take deliberate action,says Onyema.
The other big challenge relating to SAATM isreciprocityof access to markets, according to Foster.
Airlines from all quarters of the continent are keen to tap into economic opportunities that are not directly available to them, but that are accessible via theSAATM fifthfreedomprotocol, without reciprocation,explains Foster.
There are many examples of routes between Southern African countries being served by African airlines domiciled beyond the region of nexus where no direct (third and fourth freedom) traffic rights are available to them, making use of fifth freedom traffic rights without any form of reciprocity.
There are currently 38 members signed up for SAATM, but not all the member statesare complyingwithSAATMspolicies of reciprocal traffic rights, particularly with third and fourth freedom traffic rights, confirmed Berthe. As a result, Afraa announced that, in collaboration with the African Union, it is establishing adispute settlement mechanismthat will authorise an airline or a state to lodge a dispute against a statethat isdenying traffic rights, with some sort of sanction being the penalty.
Linden Birns, MD of PR consultancy Plane Talking, sees the fact that SAATM is not a regulatory or legislative body as a big challenge.
'The AU mandated the African Civil Aviation Commission to promote the adoption and implementation of SAATM. As neither the AU nor AFCAC have legislative or enforcement powers, there is no entity able to legislate or regulate a set of rules to underpin theYamoussoukroDecision/SAATM principles and to ensure they are commonly understood, applied and enforced by all of the participating states. Without those, any efforts to liberalise market access will stall and impede economic growth across
