The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has called on African governments to prioritise the development of aviation nationally and at a pan-African level to bolster economic growth and development.

Africa is set to be one of the fastest-growing aviation regions over the next 20 years, with annual expansion averaging nearly five percent. This opens up incredible economic opportunities for the continent’s 54 nations. By transporting some 70 million passengers annually, aviation already supports some 6.9 million jobs and $80 billion of economic activity on the African continent.

“Aviation has the potential to be a much greater strategic catalyst for growth if governments would stop milking the industry for taxes and enable it with smarter regulations focused on safety and the development of connectivity,” said Hussein Dabbas, regional vice president for Africa and the Middle East, IATA.

The commitments are already there with the Abuja Declaration and the Yamoussoukro Decision, but little progress has been made since their establishment. “It’s time to achieve them in partnership with industry,” added Dabbas.

Speaking at the IATA African Aviation Day in Abuja, Nigeria this past week, Nigeria's Minister for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Abubakar Sirika highlighted that enhanced air transport connectivity is unarguably the key condition for any State’s progress and transformation.

“Studies have shown that there is clear correlation between connectivity and economic performance. In addition, improved connectivity attracts inward investment, which enables access to export markets and opens countries up to competitive forces,” he said.

“Air transport is a facilitator of international business and trade. Improved connectivity means more access to cities, markets, business and people as well as the integration into global supply chains, an important factor to attracting inward investment into any country,” he added.

The theme of the IATA event was ‘Driving African Economies through the Power of Aviation’ and key elements essential to air transport development in Africa were on the agenda. Among these was connectivity with IATA welcoming the recent signing of a ‘Solemn Declaration’ by 21 African heads of state re-affirming their commitment to breaking down the artificial barriers obstructing air transport service expansion between African nations by implementing the Yamoussoukro Decision.

In discussions IATA urged all African nations to expedite its implementation, which it said will stimulate economic growth and development with at least 5 million more passenger journeys a year on the continent.

IATA also highlighted that cost-effective and appropriate infrastructure development is critical to the sustainability and expansion of African aviation. And, consultation and collaboration among airlines and their infrastructure partners during planning and development is crucial.

“No one knows better than the airlines the level of airport charges that enable a route to be viable, and the kind of amenities they need to support their passengers and aircraft efficiently. All too often in Africa there is no real engagement with the airlines prior to development. This leaves airlines burdened with paying for excessive and unsustainable development costs,” it said.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has very clear guidelines on infrastructure funding and it is recognised that development should be guided by principles of non-discrimination, consultation, transparency, cost-benefit and no pre-financing.

IATA said it is “concerned about the viability” of some planned airport developments, including Ndjamena in Chad, Addis Ababa in Ethiopia and Dakar in Senegal and has called on the Governments in these countries to “take the lead in consulting the users of the infrastructure” to ensure that the end product provides maximum benefits and rationalises costs for all.

The industry body is also urging African governments to tackle the excessive surcharges on fuel, which can make fuel purchases on the continent up to 20 percent more expensive than the global average. Airlines operating to Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana and Kenya are particularly affected by above market fuel costs. “These surcharges increase airlines' cost burden when they are already operating in a challenging environment. They also hinder growth in an industry that delivers extensive socio-economic benefits,” it said.

No discussion on African aviation can avoid the issue of safety and while safety has improved, Africa had the highest accident rate among global regions in 2015, at 7.88 accidents per million sectors. Governments have committed to achieving world-class safety levels in the Abuja Declaration, but IATA urged that safety in Africa must remain “the top priority”.

IATA continues to call on African governments to improve safety oversight and adopt its Operating Safety Audit (IOSA) together with ICAO’s safety-related standards and recommended practices (SARPs). IOSA has shown the power of global standards underpinning safety operations. The 32 sub-Saharan airlines on the IOSA registry are performing 3.5 times better than non-IOSA operators in terms of accidents, said IATA. However, as of the end of January 2016, only 21 African countries had at least 60 percent SARPs implementation.