The cost of air transport in Africa, especially in sub-Sahara Africa region continues to be the centre of discussions in different fora on the continent with many experts saying that if it remains unaddressed, many of the aspirations in the pipeline will remain a mirage. According to research, intra-African flights are 45 per cent more expensive than flights anywhere in the world. Among the major reasons that put air transport in Africa out of reach for many include taxes, where a 2021 report by the African Airlines Association indicated that in Africa, passengers pay around $50 in taxes as opposed to $30.25 in Europe and $29.65 in the Middle East for the same flight hours. However, prohibitive taxes are just one of the many bottlenecks that inhibit air transport on the continent. Other issues that have been raised include lack of route liberalisation, management weaknesses, protectionism by states, connectivity challenges, among others. At the African Union level, there are instruments like the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) which is envisaged to liberalise air travel on the continent, boost connectivity and inevitably bring down the cost of air travel. However, much as a number of countries assented to this, implementation remains a challenge and it is the African population that continues to bear the brunt. With the absence of well-developed inter-state road network linking African states, air travel remains the only viable mode of transport that will help Africans trade better. It is why SAATM was listed among the flagship projects under the ambitious Agenda 2063. However, making political commitments at the continental level will not magically fix the problem. Implementation will, and this remains a challenge, nearly five years since the initiative was launched. It does not help things that even within Regional Economic Communities – including our own East African Community – air transport is still out of reach and already impeding the implementation of instruments like the Common Market and Customs union which are key tools of the integration process. It is therefore time for countries to make deliberate effort to address these bottlenecks that we shall harvest meaningfully from integration initiatives like the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), among others.
