Safety
- Safety in Africa is the top priority. Governments have committed to achieving world-class safety levels in the Abuja Declaration. While safety has improved, Africa had the highest accident rate among regions in 2015, at 7.88 accidents per million sectors.
- IATA's Operating Safety Audit (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.
- IATA calls on African governments to improve safety oversight and adopt IOSA together with ICAO’s safety-related standards and recommended practices (SARPs). As of the end of January 2016, only 21 African countries had at least 60% SARPs implementation.
Connectivity
-
IATA welcomes 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. IATA urges all African nations to expedite its implementation, which will stimulate economic growth and development with at least 5 million more passenger journeys a year on the continent.
Infrastructure development
- Cost-effective and appropriate infrastructure development is critical to the sustainability and expansion of African aviation. 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.
- The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has very clear guidelines on infrastructure funding. Development should be guided by principles of non-discrimination, consultation, transparency, cost-benefit and no pre-financing.
- IATA is concerned about the viability of some planned airport developments, including Ndjamena in Chad, Addis Ababa in Ethiopia and Dakar in Senegal. IATA calls on the Governments in these countries to take the lead in consulting the users of the infrastructure to ensure that the end product provides maximize benefits and rationalizes costs for all.
Fuel surcharges
- IATA is urging African governments to tackle the excessive surcharges on fuel, which can make fuel purchases on the continent up to 20% 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.
Sustainability
- The aviation industry is committed to achieving carbon-neutral growth from 2020, and cutting net emissions 50% by 2050 compared to 2005. The industry is working hard to achieve these goals with improvements in technology, operations and infrastructure. However, to be fully successful a global market-based measure (GMBM) is needed and that must be agreed by governments through ICAO.
Katherine Kaczynska
Manager Corporate Communications, IATA, AME
Mob: +41 76 577 48 21
corpcomms@iata.org
Notes for Editors:
- IATA (International Air Transport Association) represents some 260 airlines comprising 83% of global air traffic.