ROUTES AFRICA: ECOWAS Plans New Regional Carrier

Posted 02/07/2011

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is set to establish a regional airline to enhance passenger links within the area following the collapse of several national carriers over the past decade.  The new venture, dubbed EcoAir, could launch operations as early as this autumn, although next year is a more likely start date.

“It has become increasingly difficult to fly from one country to the other within the sub-region, the airline companies are so erratic in their schedule, so we are meeting in order to operationalise EcoAir,” Victor Gbeho, President, ECOWAS Commission confirmed recently.

The start-up is likely to take the form of a private venture, although some State involvement remains likely to ensure traffic rights.  According to Victor Gbeho, the response of the region’s key stakeholders “was encouraging” when funding issues for the carrier were recently discussed.

Founded in 1975, ECOWAS is a regional group of fifteen countries with a mission to promote economic integration in "all fields of economic activity, particularly industry, transport, telecommunications, energy, agriculture, natural resources, commerce, monetary and financial questions, social and cultural matters".  Its membership comprises Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cote D’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinee Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. 

Work is currently taking place to develop five joint border-posts along major corridors in the region, a first step towards eliminating some borders within the community.  There are also plans to introduce a common currency with the ECOWAS countries by the end of this decade.

To keep up to date with the latest news from this year’s Routes Africa follow the #Routes Africa hashtag on Twitter.

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