Air travel is becoming a basic requirement for a fast-growing regional population that needs more resources and cross-border cooperation to meet the ever-increasing needs resulting from the integration process of the East African Community.

There is already significant leveraging of various regional programmes in the promotion of trade and investments as well as development of regional infrastructure.

We have seen our road networks continuously taking shape, the ongoing standard Gauge Railway that would run from Mombasa to Kigali is on course, ships from Mombasa to Dar es Salam and even boats cruising from Kenyan to Ugandan and Tanzanian shores frequently if not on a daily basis.

On the other hand, our air travel remains a gold coated business that still to date only attracts the haves if I may say. The industry seemingly carries on with the ancient notion of the flights being for the elite.

Unfortunately,this happens while there is an increasing number of businessmen, the the unsung heroes of our integration, engaged in cross-border trade and our producers or consumers in the region breaking down the barriers between them and in constant quest forall modes of transport.

However, these hardworking traders are often scared away by our own airlines generally due to ever hiking prices as a result of what is said to be exorbitant fuel and aeroplane landing fees.

Lack of direct flights between major our towns is another major problem.Therefore, passengers or investors who do not either have the time or money to surmount these challenges choose to shy away from using airtransport.

A report by African Development Bank (AfDB) noted that East African’s aviation sector features extremely high fares caused by national airlines monopolising routes.The report cited that it is three times more expensive to fly from Nairobi to Entebbe than from Nairobi to Dubai, if one considers the distance.

According to the study, a flight between Nairobi and Entebbe costs between $295 (KSh26,550) and $390 (KSh35,100), whereas flying from Nairobi to Dubai (seven times as far) costs about $600 (Sh54,000).

The AfDB study found that taxes comprise 62 per cent of the total cost of air tickets within East Africa, while a Kenya Airways ticket from Nairobi to Dubai includes 41 per cent taxes.

The above report reveals what exactly makes it difficult for many ordinary folks to continue looking at the skies in awe whenever a plane passes by!

Elsewhere in Europe since the deregulationof their airways in the 1990s, a flock of budget-conscious, no-frills airlines have taken flight. Typically they offer cheap flights between major European cities which even have longer distances than we do within East Africa.

For instance Ryanair routinely flies from London to any one of dozens of European cities for less than $100, this is after adding taxes and a boatload of fees. This might sound too low to achieve in our region but it brings the sense of capability of reconstructing our aviation industry to meet the needs of our growing middle class.

East Africans traveling within the region should not be subjected to numerous levies that make the journey from Entebbe to Nairobi the most expensive 500-kilometre commercial flight in the world.

There is dire need to adopt cross-border transport agreements which would further liberalize market access and spur trade. Our policy makers should not be slow or shy to embrace such ideas with the emerging increase in international competition.

Our state-owned airlines like Kenya Airways or RwandaAir have emotional value that we must associate with, as citizens we see them as our flag-carriers and points of pride such that it becomes disappointing failing to travel with them just because of inability to meet their prices.

Other foreign passengers would alsohave reason to avoid our carriers, it is time to see aviation as a high-priority industry instead of as a luxury.

The impetus for development is clear, and the consumer demands of growing middle-class populations across the region are ramping up so quickly that change is unavoidable.

People have a greater need to move goods and services between markets, and when they have disposable incomes, they want to travel on business or taking normal trips with their family members.

Massive improvement in communication technology that we have seen in the past few years has pushed air travel to become more of a necessity than a luxury for the business world. This is why there is more development of low-cost carriers which are able to compete on the same routes with our own carriers in most of the routes.

As the East Africa Community aims at widening and deepening co-operation of the Partner States in, among others, political, economic and social fields for their mutual benefit, consideration of having affordable flights amongst the member states is undoubtedly inevitable.

Cheaper airlines will likely have social benefits, facilitate interaction, increase intra-country tourism, contribute to economic aspects of integration goals and prepare the ground for a stronger transnational feeling.

Easing air travel will as well attract more international trade, which would do more to grow our economies. Oscar_kim2000@yahoo.com