International air transport environment and basic principles for African air transport

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UNITED NATIONS

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL

Distr. Llt-iITED E!ECA!TRANS!69 29 June 1988 ENGLISH

Origina1:FRENCH

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ECONOhIC COHhISSION FOR AFRICA

Special Conference of African k1inisters in charge of Civil Aviation

Yamoussoukro (Cote dllvoire) 3-7 October 1988

INTERNATIONAL AIR TRANSPORT ENVIRONMENT ,AND BASIC PRINCIPLES FOR AFRICAN AIR TRANSPORT

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P'!E(,I\/'l'RAN~!"9

INTERNATIONAL AIR TRANSPORT ENVIRONMENT AND BASIC PRINCIPLES FOR AFRICAN AIR TRANSPORT

1. Regulation in

Several attempts rad which the :Cast

multilate~al reo:me rights and to put i t

air transport dates hark a lono time.

he en made hefore 1944, the year in attempt was made to estahlish a for the r-equLat.ion of commercial in a leoal framework.

2. Already at that time there were two trends, one which recomnended a liberal framework, in other words maximum access to the territories of other countries hv the airlines "f different countries, (which was the posi t.ion ofth" U:.-, 'teil States) an-t another whir-h wanted regUlation j)ased on compliance with certain rules whiC'h, in effect, amoui.t.cd to prot.ect.ionism (this hei nq the poeLt.Ion of ',:.he United Ki ncrd ornl ,

3. The conccp,' clounpioned hy the Uni ted St.ates of a mu Lt.Ll.a'te r a L aq;-f~"ment. on commerci a 1 ri ahts soucbr. to encourage -th8 ",,;chancre of the five freertoms of the air in a multilate:-:al ma.nio r . That also meant t.hat the caoar-tr v and freedom of flights ought to be determined unilaterally by ':he ai rlii,pc; Ci"sicnateo bv the contractinq oa r r i e s , 'T'he economic de ci s i.on s on tariffs were also the r-e soonsib iLi r.v of the ai~lines concerned.

4. The Brit ish po si t.i on , on the other hand , rerommeriden strict control of routes, freauencv and tad ffs in o,..,'ler to avoid d f ut i I.o and un rus t comoet i t.ion. 'T'he lack of mul tilateral so 11.: ti on, however, marie i t necessary to anopt a bilateral Golut~on.

5. Owing to the oivergent Jlmerican !'Ind British vi ewpoi nts at the time, the latter heina supporten bv other EUropean countries, no deci sion con In he t.aken on the main multilateral regulatory instruments. 'T'hus, bilateralism came to fill the gap created hv their failure.

6. It is inter~stinq in this reqaro, to note that the liberal views _o~ th0 Unite'l States ano the protectionist stand of the uI,ited Ki.nadom in 1944 reflecteri the relative power of tn.e bio countries in air transport at t.he time.

The Arnerica'1 de'egation was aware that the I\merican airlines were D8tt2r preparen than their Buropean

counter~arts to compete, what the v neeneri was free arcess to th~ interna~ional air transport market. On the

E/ECA/TRANS/69 Page 2

contrary, the European deleqations were conscious of rhe weakness of their national airlines durinq and after the Second World War. To be ahle to face freelv the competition of the stronqerl\merican airlines and 0evelc)Q, they needed a controlled and requlaten environment in which their share of the market would be protected.

7. Following the failure of the multilateral approach in Chicago, a hi latera 1 meeting was held he tween rhe United States and the United KinqrJom delegations in Bermuda in 1946. The rwo parties made concessions and concluded an agreement on bilateral air services, known as- the "Bermuda Agreement", which served as a !'loilel aqreement for bilateral a~r services. ~he parties to a bilateral air services agreement of th" Bermuda type exchanqe riqhrs on a reciprocal ba si s , These riahts include the des;. anati on of airlines, access ro market, routes, traffic riahts, freqUency and capac.it v ,

8. 'I'ari f f a-rf Lxr.rrq was entrust.ed to airlines t.hrouah thE>

multilateral mach:nery of ^Il\'I'l\. The role of aOvernments was limited to approvina the t.a ri ffs anc: rates fixed.

9. It is important tc note that at that peri00, in other words immediately followina the Chicaao ronference of 1944, even if the concepts were different in suhstancE>, they had one common element, that. is, to set UP an economic environm8nt for int.er!1ational air transport.

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10. Forty-four same conflict.

supporters and deregulation.

years ef t e r t.llat cb i.caco Conference the of interests continues to divide the opponents of liberalisation ann/or II. Current situation outside I\frica

11. In the other reqions of the world, international air transport is moving into a new era. There have alreaov been dramatic changes in the United States ann in Rurooe.

The most import.ant chanue b e i.nq the shift from reaul at ion to a deregulated svstem or from ~o-oberation to competition. The impact of this chanae is vet to be felt.

A. Dereaulation in rha United States

12. In the United States, national air transport was governed by strict reaulation. New airlines did not have the right of access to the exis~ina market while existinq ones did not have the riaht to abandon unprofitahle routes. Tariffs were controlled and sanctions were impose~

on airlines for offerinq lower orices.

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13. The period between 1920 ant' 1938 witnessed a limite"

and regulated qrowth of air transport in the T~ite" States dominated by some major airlines. In response to this situation, Congress in 1938 passen the ^('jvi ll\eronauti,.,s Act which provided for the establishment of a rivil Aeronautics Board (Cr'B), t-hus Lavincr the foundation for a regulated system.

14. Without going into details about the chanae from strict regulation to nerequlation, in Ortoher 1979

Congr~ss passed the I\jrline Derequlation ~ct whirh prov.i ded for the qradua 1 ni s so l.ut i on of the I;ivi1 Aeronautics Board (C1'B) , which actually orruren on 31 December 1984. As a conseauence of the disappearance of CAB, airlines henceforth had free market entry. the riqht to offer their own tariffs and to determine the variety and quality of service.

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high reduction of costs, increas.e in hubs , instability of tariffs. hiqh load factors, consoli nation of reservation systems. merqers leadinq to the establishment of meaa or super airlines owned by financiers and havinq almost total control of the market.

elimination of small airlines resulting in an oligopoly by maior airlines;

congestion of airports orientation the hub resultant deterioration

due to system of safety

the new network and the standards.

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16. Deregulation thoroughly upset the air transport system in the United States. The rapid ~hanqes left Rurope in a state of confusion ana uncertainty. In Burope, it. is feared that these qiarit· airli nes, after thei r domi natj on of the local market in the United States and owina to thp limited possibilities of· expansion in TlmeriC'an territory.

may turn towards the main international markets.

particularly Europe. Given their main competitive

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advantage (cost reduction) they will, sooner or later, he in a position to prevail over the Morth ntlantic market.

They will also try to establish hu,",,,, in Enrone ann influence the overall European market.

17. The European carriers are at nresent negotiating a series of aqreements to renuce costs anil improve their output. At qov2rnmental level, agreements have heen drawn up by the European Civil nviation Commission (""Cl\(~) on tariffs and capacity sharinq to create qreater cooperation. However, derequlation is gathering momentum in Europe with some countrte~ rea0Y to play the role of bubs' With regard to airlines, privatisation is qaining ground and neqotiations for mergers are at present underway.

18. In order to give a new impetus to the integration of Europe, the Commission of European communities proPos0il in its white paper of 1985 the establishment of internal markets without bordc r s , a stratecrv which would also include air transport. But the Community hail to he given new and real possibilities to attain that ohiective which led to the adoption in 1986 of the Sinqle ~ct bv the Governments of member states.

19. Although the Singl'e Act 'lid not, exclusively con "ern air transport, it should hOlrlever lead to the liberalization of air transport for two main reasons.

Firstly, the obiectives of achievinq bv 1992 an area without internal frontiers in whi cb tho frcp movomon r of goods, persons, services ann capi~al is ensurp0 as clearly stated by Article 13 of the nct. Seconnly, the Ac~

enables the Communi t.v i nstitut.ions to Iiheral izp ai r transport accordinq to Article 16.

C. Computerised R2servation SYstem (CRS)

20. In the r eccnt past, let propulsion revolu~ionisen

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air transport by considerably increasina sneen, imnrovina comfort and lowerinq tariffs. Another change which is presently affecting international air ~ransport, is computerisation used for strategic and commercial purposes. Airlines are benefitting from advanced technology, particularly in telecommunications, ~o modify radically in their favour thp product distrihution sys~em.

21. Ten YPbrs ago the distrihution of the product of an airline was carried out in relative neutrality. ~t that time, travel aqencies and airlines advised nassengers on best tariffs and flights hv makina their own research.

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Today all this work is clone automatically hv a c1isnlay on a screen using comout o ri sco installat.i.ons suool iod bv an airline. The particular airline seeks to derive maximum return on the investment made to develoo ann use the technology; i t does this by qiving priority to its own flights over those of its rivals in the oresentation of informa tion di splavecl bv the system. 'rhus, in thp !Tni ted States the maior companies have devcloDPd thpir own computerized reservation systems and off^ere,,') other airlines the po ssioⁱ Li.t.v to have access .. a them. " ..

present there are five malar sYstems in the !Tnited !':tates.

22. The detailed, orecise and timely data stored in the main memory of tbe comouters of the suoDlvinq airlines have enabled the travel agents, who have access to them, to increase considerahlv their productivity. There is already a st.rugqlc croi.n-r on for the, domination of thp distribut.ion system bv the sellers of oomou t.e r i sen

reservation systems.

23. The most worrying aspect of the eRS is the waY the data is man i.pu La t.ed and d i.sp l.avod , The CR.e:: ^j s concei.vr>n in such a way as to put the products of the seller in a favourable light. Furthermore, they have been intent.ionallv manipulated to give wrong inforroation on rival airlines so as to take away part of the traffic.

These biased displays and abusive manipulations consist in the falsification of schedules, nisolav of wronq tariffs and use of avail2ble information exclusivelv for the sellers and going aqainst the interests of the other airlines.

24. To meet the threats of domination hv the eRR of American meqa airlines, European airlines have also hequn to develop their own sYstems. Two malor qroups, ~maneus

and Galileo, are at present operational. The foundinq members of Amadeus are c.ir Fr-ance, Iheria, Lufthansa arid SAS, while the founding members of ~aljleo are British Airways, KLM, Swissair and Cavia, a subsiniarv of T~ited

Airlines which, however, itself usps Apollo.

25. In South East Asia, CathaY Pacific, !':inqaoorr>

Airlines, Garuda and Thai International "irlines have grouped to establish their own sYstem caller'! Ahacus. The same applies to ~llstralia and New Zealan~.

26. While rE'gional airlines r.r v to o r q ani z e their own distribution systems, the owners of more advanced sYstems try to invade local market. The m-Iners of the two Burooean systems have already begun to convince several airlines in

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Africa and the ~lidrnE; East to ioin thcoir svstem. However, due to the bias and abuse alre~dv mentioned, thp already-established systems will not serve the interests of the smaller airlines. A system used bv a neutral organization which is not an airline, such as the one proposed by SITD, would certainly be more annropriatp for African airlines.

III. Impact of the new oolicies

27. The new policies introducC'''' in the ^Uni tE'd ~tates and Europe have either already had or will have far-reaching implications for the countries whE're they were introduced.

They will also affect fundamentally air transnort development in Africa. These imnlications are the followings:

A. Deregulation in the United States 28. Deregulation in

blessing, having had negative ones as shown a} Positive Asnects

the United C::tat.es has manv positive aspects hereundpr.

he",n a rnixprj and som",

29. One emergence following

of the results of deregulation of mergers and take-overs which advarrta oe s e

-free market entrv and exit;

-an enlarged market;

-stronger financial hase;

increas~ in airrraft urilisarion~

has havp

been thp had the

-improvement of the profitahilitv of maior airlines owing to their stronger nosition in the market place;

-costs reduction and bptter yield management;

-increased confidence of financing institutions in the viability of the higger ai.rlines

lpadinq to imnToved access for these airlines to loan financinq for the nurchase of

eauinment;

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Among other advantages. of deregulation not relatE''''l to mergers, maybe mentioned:

-increase in number of paSsengers travelling on reduced fares;

-rationalization of tariffs;

-emergence of hub and their links with the support or intercontinental network;

-intensification of route operation requests;

-order of new aircraft by airlines and leasing

co~panies;

-less government interference in the management of airlines;

-development of regional services on short 'hauls;

-wider array of service choices;

b) Negative Aspects

30. Among the negative aspects maybe mentioned: (see F) loss of jobs and deterioration

conditions;

the lowering of safety standards ;

of workin~

total disorganisation of the air transport system during the initial J:)erion

congestion orientation of fuel

of airspace of the network;

due to leading

the nf'W to wasta~e

abandonment of' several unprofitable routes;

reduction of co-operation among airlines as regards interline agreements;

concentration of flights around a number of airports, hence overcapacity;

certain

unfair competition predatory tariffs;

and the practice of

disappearance of several non stop point services;

point-to-

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emergence of small airlines which did not last'lonq as they were compelled to aive up their service or to be bought out by the mega carriers.

31. The listing of the advantages and disadvantages should not make us forget that deregulation' has not yet, had its full impact and new and more radical changE's in the structure of air transport should be expected. ~t this juncture, i t can be said that the experience in the llnited States has some very important lessons for international airlines, lessons which should leac'!to the avoidance of errors as well as effort for improved performance.

B. Liberalisation in Europe

32. It can safely be assumed that liberalisation in Europe will, as i~ did in the United States, result in the emergence of Ir'ega carriers which wi I I he in a stronaer position to compete against the smaller airlines of other regions. The bi rcb of the European Common market could have the effect, as far as air transnort is concerned, of diminishing the granting of fifth freedom traffic rights to airlines of other nations within Europe while European carriers would continue to enjoy these rights which thev have been granted generously in ~frica. There are indications that the whole of Europe coulc'! be considered as a single territory as regards air transport agreements, which could lead to African carriers being confined to certain points in Europe while European carriers would have the African points they previously used at their disposal.

C. Computerised reservation system

33. The computerised reservation sYstem is a nowerfu]

tool for ensuring the distribution of the airlines proc'!uct while at the same time conferring advantages to the owner airlines. The'monopoly over the systems enioved hy the major airlines will in the long run result in complete ignorance about the product of other airlines. In such a situation, the airlines whose products is not known are bound to suffer huge losses of earnings.

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34. In order to access the system, other airlines have to incur additional expenditure which is additional revenue for the owners of the svstems.

35. Finally, th" airli ne owni ncr the system has an advantage in that it is in a position to influence choice of airline and route bv travel aaencies and passengers so that increasingly they will control the market.

D. Foreseable impact on hfri.can air transport

36. These changes will no doubt have an impact on African air t.ransport.. The situation in Europe wi 11 have a direct effect on African air transport and weaken the airlines whose situation is already precarious. nfrican air transport suffers from hioh operating costs, ageing fleet (more than 50 per cent of the fleet will be affected by noise restrictions), the negative conseauences of unfair competition etc. The most alarming situation stems from the fact t.har a high percent.age ofextra-rp.oional traffic in i'frica is to and from Europe (no less than 72 per cent in 1982). This means that nfrican airlines will soon have to operate their fliqhts within a de-regulated framework. Besides, European airlines which risk not :being able to compete with the American giants on the North Atlantic market will turn to other markets to intensify their operations there.

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37. Africa and the Middle Rast offer them the best markets. Unless defined, African .countries will competition among themselves as should be chosen as central transit European airlines.

are regions likelY to a concerted policy is be locked UP in a stiff to which one of tbem points of Ameriean and

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envisaged that these new extra-~frican

thp.se other implicationS for African increase in the number cf fifth freedom sector qranted European arid r.ID,erican airlines, oil' account of the size and the _econo~ie weiaht of _th~rr countries ; the tendency to operate blind sectors. that is the right to serve on the same flight sevp.ral points in di.ff e r-erit; terri tories wi t.hour commercial riaht.s between them;

introduction of change of oauge hv forp.ian airlines which use JI.frican routes, that is the uo s s i.bi l it.v to change aircraft on the territory of a foreign country. This practice will lead to the creation, in Africa, of hubs bv non-African airlines. Under these circumstances, African airlines will play the rolp.

of affiliate~ of the major foreign airlines.

IV. Difficulties facing air transport in nfrica

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40. The followina cxternal ano intcrnal factors have an impact on African air transport,

1. External factors

The general economic situation in foreian countries which have close links with ~frica;

proliferation of _~frican airlines wiih different siees, most of which arc hank runt or on the verqe .. of bankr uot.cv :

strong competition offered bv maior Buropcan airlines which have everythina that ~frican

airlines Jack, particularly: new eQuipment, higher auality of service, reliabilitv of schedules etc.

2.

lack of confidence on the institutions who think that .lend to ,'\frican ai rlines;

Inter.na1 factors

part of financina i t _i~ very risky to

the difficult economic s i r uari on of j",fri'caw{th an e,ternal debt exceedinq UR$2nn hillion;

shortage of resources, narticularlv foroian exchange, for f i na noi nq invest.ments;

political interference by aovernmehts in the day-to-day management of airlines;

employment instability change of airline personnel;

Li nkod to executives

the frpCluent

C'.nc1· s o n{or'

lack of management activities;

discipline amana of all levels

the staff of Civil

in t.he

~viation

high operating costs and tariffs compared to other regions;

high cost of fuel;

lack of co-ordination and co-operation in thp field of air transport;

lack of adeauate infrastructure and poor facili tat ion ;

low level of traffic du,", to insufficipntlv developed intr"a-l\frican tradp and tourism.

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C. Effects on African air transport

41. Because of all the factors referred to ahove, traffic levels in l,fria are low compar-e-d to other reuions of the world. In terms of passenqer!kM recorded, the share of hfrica is still below 5 per cent of the world total share. In addition to recordinq a low ppr capita travel rate (68 pax-km per capita compared to the world avpraqe of 236 pax-km accordinq to an ICAO survev of 198~), the overall performance fiaure is shared amana a larqe numher of airlines.

42. Out of the 50 or so SCheduled airlines currentlv operating from and wi t.hi n P·.frica, 30 are l\frican with an overall performance of about 3 per cent of thE. total world figure. In comparison, the individual results of such European airlines as British Jlirwavs, rdr Franc'" ann Lufthansa are alMost equal to the overall resul~ achieven by all the African airlines put toqether.

43. Financial difficulties have resul.ted in Manv routes being abandoned and a concentration of activities on the North/South routes. l\ccordi ncr to ICJ\O, l\frican air Ltnos suffered a loss of about US$lOO million in 19R4 whereas during the same period the profit made hv airlines the world ever amounted to US$ 5 billion.

44. During the period 1978 - 1987 the share of reoular international air traffic of Buropean, l\sian and Pacific (which constitute a point of reference from the noint of view of efficiency) and African airlines as a nercentaae of the total of all the airlines of reAO contractinq states is as follows:

INTERNATIONAL SERVICBR Reqion

Europe

Asia and the Pacific l\frica

Source: Icr,O

1978

42.4%

2006%

4.3%

1987

36.7%

?8.2%

3.6%

45. Furthermore, in 1987, operatina orofits increasen in all the reqions of theworln except ~frica.

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D. Conclusion

46. The current transformation nnd development of international air transport

impact on !\frican air transport requi res a in policv and attitude bv ~frica.

rHrecti on of and its net radir::al chanqe 47. There, consequentLv , is an u roont reaui rement for fresh. initiatives to ensure c>ffective cooperation ann integration of Tlfrica' s air transport systems to better optimise resource exploitation. The basic aviation infrastructure shall require ma10r investments in orner to enable airlines to offer better services.

48. Of equal impqrtance is the creation of a requlatorv environment under an air t~ansport no Ii cy framework whi ch would best ensure nfrican control of its market for

increased intra-African air services development.

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49. In order to develop nfrican air services, ~frican

States have formulated and adopted several strateqies in the past, including those contained in the Laqos Plan of Action and the Declaration of General Policy in the Field of Civil Aviation.

Lagos Plan of Action

50. The effects of unfulfilled promises of qlobal devo Lopmonr. strategies were more' o rot oundIv felt in Ifrica than in the other continents of the world. Indeed, rather than improving the continent's economic situation, the successive strategies have rendered it more vulnerahle than the o t.he r regions to the social and economic crises besettinq the industrialized countries. ~s a result, r..frica has found itself unable to attain t.he least significant qrowth rat." or a sat.isfactorv standard of general well-heing over the last decades. Faced with this situation and determined to take measures to restructure the economic base of the continent, African Heads of State and Government d.ecided to adopt a far-reachinq reqional.

approach based essentially on collective self-reliance.

51. Following a series of st.u0ies of the economic problems of the continent, they adopted at the sixteenth ordinary session of the OArr summit held in Monrovia, Liberia, in July 1979 the "l1onrovia Declaration of Committment of the Heads of State and ~overnment of the OArr on the guidelines and measures for national and collective self-reliance in economic and social.

development for the establishment of a new international economic order".

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52. In adoptina the Declaration, the Heads of ~~ate

Government recognized the "need to take ur<:/ent action provide the political support necessary for the success of measures to achieve the aoals of rapid self-reliance self-sustaining development and economic growth" and aareed

and to the and to:

( i ) promote individually and collectively the

economic and social development and integration of their economies with a view to achievina an increasina measure of self-sufficiency and self-sustainment;

( i i ) establish national, institutions which attainment of self-sustainment;

subregional and reaional will facilitate the self-reliance and

( i i i ) More specifically, they committed themselves individually and collecticelv to:

(a) give ~n i~portant place to the field of human resources development ^hv start ina to eliminate illiteracy;

(b) put science and technoloav in the service of development bv reinforcina the autonomous capacity of African countries in this field;

(c) implement the United Communications

completelv the proarammes Nations Transport Decade for ~frica;

for and

(d) develop indiaenous entrepreneurship, technical manpower and technological ahilities to enable their peoples to assume areater responsibility for the achievement of individual ~nd collective development aoals;

the aimpnsion of thp of development olans measures aimed at socio-economi"

(e) take into account future in the elaboration including studies and

achieving a rapid

transformation of the States.

53. The Lagos Plan of Action adopted in Jlpril 1980 hy thE' OAU Heads of State and Government aims at the implemenration of the !4onrovia 5trategy. If defines among othE'r t.hings, the measures r eLatLnq to the sett.inq up of regiona 1 structures ann the strengtheninq of those alreadv existing, thereby pavina the way for the eventual establishment of an African Common Market by the year 2000 and leadina to an African Economic Community.

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Declaration of General policy in the Field of Civil Aviation 54. The Dec La r ati.on of General Policy in the Field of civiI Aviation adopted by the OAU 5ummi t in Freetown in ,Tunp lQ!jO in Resolution CM!Res!804 (XXXV) defined the basic pr incio Ls-s for African States' individual and collective action in ~h0

tield of civil aviation. AFCAC's activities cover three main areas reflectinq the broad lines as set in the above Declaration of general policy, namely:

1. technical fields;

2. the economic field;

3. technical co-operation.

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55. Since its adoption, the Declaration has as the basis of J\FCl\C's work prOGramme aviation fields, namely:

been considered in various civil

(a) the harmonization of training programmes and licensing procedures for technical personnel;

(b) meeting training reguirement and funding acti vi ties a i.mi ncr at ii.,plementL1l1 training at national, and multinational levels;

initiating structurps

(c) the regula'tion of l\frican air sorvico s bas cd on bilateral air services agreements with limited aoplication;

(d) the 'estahlishment of the ,'\frican Air Tari ff Conference (AFHT\TC) acti vi ties governed by a Convention signed in December 1980 should reconcile profitability requirements wit.h the tariffs trends to promote traffic bearirig in mind national interests, factors connectp.d with restructuring thE, network and the apnrooriate co-operative activities between airlines;

(e) the es t.ab l Lsbmont. of a co-ordinated neblork of aircraft maintenance and overhaul centres with a view to reducing operating costs and ensurino a hioher return on investment and promoting ~ighlv skilled iobs;

If) financin9 aeronautical activities notably throunh the African Development Bank;

(g) evolving pooling of efforts airlines.

Actions undertaken

ba.sic and

principles with a 0stablisLment of

view to the multinational

56. AFCAC has taken many initiatives aiming at the implementation by St,a'.::cG, cf the measures advocated in the Declaration of General Policy. Some of these initiatives have been a resounding success. But generallv soeakino, the obiecti ve of i:he optimum development of air transport in

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57. Followinq the conveninq hy EC~ in 19R4 of an ~frica~

Conference on Frcerjoms of the r\ir, a Technical Committee on Dir Transport in Africa was set UP. The Committee was entrusted with the task of fin~inq solutions to existinq problems. Research carried out. bv the Committee sinc« its inception in 1984 has revealed that the maior prohlcm has essentially to do with the size of African airlines. It was therefore decided to support the idea of workino towards the grouping of' the individual airlines that havp been the: hallmark of T\frican air transport for sevpral years.

58. It is pertinent to note that the various policies introduced since 1979. that is since the launchinq of the United Nations Transport and Communications Decade in Africa. have not yet vielded thp desired results_ The situation will deteriorate further if derequlation, the European common airspace policy and the computerized reservations systems get firmly rooted and are exportpd to Africa. Such a time is not too far to envisage. There is a need, therefore, to formulate and implpment an African aeronautical policy which would enable r,.frica to meet the competition of other regions and to make orogress towards the establishment of a common market by the year 2000 as envisaged in the Lagos Plan of Action.

59" Today it is perhaps difficult to quantify the impact of all these changes on African air transport.

Nevertheless. it is not unreasonable to suaqest that the consequence will be rlisastrous i f !\frican Governments continue to apply the current policv of "each one for himself". based on parochial nationalism.

60. Furthermore, Africa can no lonqer afford prec;ous policies of blind orotectionism in the fiel.d of traffic rights and isolated and individualistic operations in the face of the challenges posed by new policies being pursued at the global level which will no doubt, have an impact on l',fri can air transport. Unless there' are fundamental oo lLcv changes, African airlines run the risk of losing their identi ty to the advantage of non-Af r Lcan airli ne s , a situation which would constitute a serious ;mpediment to the prdcess of integration.

v.

oe

61. In the face of ponder and adopt positions on:

thc,se challenges, it is necessary to as a matter of utmost urgency a common (a) a sincere and frank co-operation amonq hath the civil aviation administrations and the airlines;

~ .! _ _..:1

',

E/ECL/TRANS/69 Page 16

(c) the implications for the dev'?lopment of r,frican air transport of the goal of an 7'frican common markc-r., as envisaged in the Lagos Plan of ~ction;

(d) the grouping and the merger of ~frican airlines so as to make them more prcfitable;

..

(e) an increased liberalisation in traffic rights(especially those under as a basis for greater cooperation among which should facilitate the attainment objective of amalgamating African airlines more viable units;

the aranting of

~he fifth freenom}

0frican airlines of the ultimate into larger anQ (f) the provision

infrastructure and other future development of air

of the necessary equipment, aeronautical installations for

servicE?s~

(g) the renewal of fleets in or0er to adapt them to prevailing noise restriction standards;

(h) the distrihution of airlines by developing an 0frican system.

VI. . Recommendations

the proc1uct computerised

of ,"-frican reservation

62. The new African strateqy in the face of the above-mentioned changes, must be based on,

(a) The definition and adoption of a cohe ronr, common aeronautical policy.

(bl The pooling of resources for ioint operations of international services.

(c) The merger of SUbregional, economic of countries to set up

existing national airlines on a or voluntary basis anr the grouping multinational airlines.

(d) Co-operation in the activities as one of the referred as above.

financing elements

of civil aviation of the common noli cv