Aviation industry not top priority for many African governments – IATA
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has called on African governments to make the continent’s economy driven by the aviation industry.
According to the association’s Director General Tony Tyler, many of Africa’s governments do not see aviation as a top priority.
“Eliminating poverty, improving health, raising living standards, and generating jobs rank much higher. My message is not to shift priorities, but to ask governments to see aviation as an economic driver and develop policies to support that important role,” Tyler said in a keynote address to open IATA’s Aviation Day September 3, 2012 in Dakar, Senegal.
The association noted that safety, regional cooperation and global standards for infrastructure funding should be key issues which must be addressed in order to unlock Africa’s aviation potential.
“African aviation supports 6.7 million high quality jobs and business activity totaling some $67.8 billion. Aviation could play an even bigger role in facilitating Africa’s growth and development,” Tony Tyler said.
To achieve this, Tyler opined that “we need a team effort of government and industry focused on improving safety, adopting a coordinated policy approach and implementing global standards.”
He indicated that the most pressing problem for African aviation today is safety. In 2011, the continent experienced an average of one accident for every 305,000 flights using Western-built jet aircraft, said Tyler adding that this was an improvement over 2010, when the average was one accident for every 135,000 flights. But it was still nine times worse than the global average.
“It should be as safe to travel by air in Africa as it is in any other part of the world,” said Tyler.
Using aviation as an economic driver, Tyler also called for a coordinated regional approach to aviation. “Africa faces many common challenges. In addition to safety, these include inadequate infrastructure, ‘brain drain’ and skills building, finding sources for capital, fleet modernization, building competitiveness and much more,” he stated.
By Ekow Quandzie