The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has highlighted the benefits to Africa brought by cooperation between it and the Governments across the continent. The aim was to facilitate air connectivity across Africa that is efficient, safe and sustainable. In turn, this would ensure the maximum beneficial socioeconomic impact of aviation across the continent.
“African aviation supports $55.8-billion of economic activity and 6.2-million jobs,” highlighted IATA Director General and CEO Alexandre de Juniac at the 50th Annual General Assembly of the African Airline Association in Morocco. “To enable aviation to be an even bigger driver of prosperity across the continent, we must work closely with Governments.”
The safety of African aviation has clearly improved. “Africa has had no jet hull losses for two years running and is two years free of any fatalities on any aircraft type, it’s clear that progress is being made,” he said.
“But more needs to be done. We urge Governments to recognise the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) in their safety oversight programmes. With IOSA carriers performing three times better than airlines not on the IOSA registry, we have a convincing argument.”
“Similarly, States must push forward greater adoption of ICAO [International Civil Aviation Organisation] Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPS),” he urged. At the moment, only 24 African countries are compliant with at least 60% of the SARPS. “That is not good enough.”
He further called for a cooperative agenda between IATA and African Governments that had four main focus areas. These were – developing effective infrastructure, ensuring a well-trained and diverse work force, improving competitiveness, and modernising the regulatory framework with a focus on global standards and connectivity.