‘Open skies will unlock Africa’s economic potential’

Widespread adoption of open skies policies remains key to Africa’s economic growth, in the view of James Geldenhuys, head of aircraft finance at Nedbank Capital.

According to The World Bank, while Africa is home to 12% of the world’s population, it still accounts for less than 1% of the global air service market. “In its study entitled Open Skies for Africa – Implementing the Yamoussoukro Decision (YD), the Bank cites the continued restriction of air services over many African countries as one of the key contributing factors to Africa’s apparent inability to capture its fair share of global air traffic,” he said.

While some progress has been seen in recent years in terms of certain aspects of open skies policies being adopted in Central and West Africa, the skies over southern Africa, with the exception of South Africa, remain largely closed to free commercial use, Geldenhuys pointed out. Ironically, he added, international carriers currently enjoy more airspace rights than most intra-African airlines in these southern African regions – and this is caused largely by lingering protectionism and fear of competition within many African countries. “These fears need to be overcome if Africa’s airspace is to be fully liberalised so that commercial aviation can become an effective enabler of economic growth,” he said.

Another challenge that requires intervention by African governments is the restriction placed on many of the continent’s airlines by the EU banned list, he added. This list continues to restrict many airlines based on historical perceptions of poor safety. “However, while the banned list targets perceived unsafe airlines, in Africa the real safety challenge often doesn’t lie with the airline itself, but rather with the issue of safety oversight and airspace regulation by the various national civil aviation authorities. Closer involvement in aviation safety by governments would go a long way towards lessening the case for the inclusion of many African airlines on the EU banned list, which, in turn, would open more opportunities for the continent’s airlines to compete internationally.”