East African Community: Air transport liberalisation progressing well
The liberalization of air transport in the East African Community is progressing well as planned despite some challenges, an official from the EAC Secretariat has said.
East African Community Secretariat, Arusha, 24 January 2013: The liberalization of air transport in the East African Community is progressing well as planned despite some challenges, an official from the EAC Secretariat has said.
Briefing several stakeholders this morning who had paid a visit to the new headquarters of the EAC and were interested to know the status of liberalization of air transport in the region, the Principal Aviation Officer Engineer Ladislaus Matindi said the starting point of the EAC efforts in the liberalization of its air transport market was the Ministerial Decision relating to the implementation of the Yamoussoukro Declaration (of 7 October 1988) regarding Liberalization of Access to Air Transport Markets in Africa.
Eng. Matindi noted that the development of the framework for the implementation of the YD on the full liberalization of air transport in EAC was progressing well and the Council was expected to consider a draft of it by the end of May this year.
The EAC official reiterated that with the development of the framework for the liberalization of air transport in the region and the application of the EAC Common Market Protocol, Partner States will be able to eliminate, between themselves, all the economic restrictions in the aviation sub sector related to capacity, frequencies, city pairs, cabotage, and designation of airlines.
"With the foregoing developments, it is hoped that operational efficiencies and increased frequencies and capacities will lead to higher levels of service in the aviation market in the region and also lower fares and freight charges," affirmed Eng. Matindi.
Despite the collective will to liberalize the air transport market in the bloc, the EAC Principal Aviation Officer said there were still a number of challenges to overcome. He said the most visible challenge was the assurance of fair competition and a level playing field for both big and small airlines.
"Some Partner States with small and weaker airlines are concerned that full liberalization may lead to the disappearance of their airlines as a result of anti-competitive behaviour such as abuse of dominant position by the bigger airlines".
As a result, Partner States have been granting rights among themselves through outdated policies based on the old Bermuda type agreement with emphasis on bi-lateralism, reciprocity and protectionism.
Eng. Matindi noted that the second layer of challenges were issues related to the current low EAC regional and international airport capacities, safety oversight and security concerns.
He said these issues were currently being addressed through the development of airport projects and the EAC Civil Aviation and Security Oversight Agency (CASSOA) was overseeing the implementation of the revised regulations covering aviation safety and airports and aerodromes security.
The stakeholders were informed that regardless of the challenges, the situation has been improving since the Council of Ministers approved amendments to Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreements (BASAs) between States.
There has been an increase in city-pairs connections among the EAC Partner States and countries have adopted multiple designations of airlines and are progressively removing limitations on frequencies, capacity between the city-pairs in the region and traffic rights.
Notes to Editors
The Declaration was endorsed by the Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity-OAU (now African Union) in July 2000. The Decision that arose from the adoption of the Ministerial Declaration is commonly known as the Yamoussoukro Decision (YD).
In 2006, the 11th Meeting of the EAC Council of Ministers approved amendments to the existing Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASAs) between States meant to align the BASAs with YD provisions on capacity and frequency restrictions, being the first step towards full implementation of the YD in the Region. The Council also constituted the EAC Air Transport Sub Committee for implementation of the Yamoussoukro Declaration.