The cost of air travel in East Africa will not go down any time soon due to delays in the liberalisation process of the air space.

The five partner states are yet to agree on the ownership of aircraft and operation control by the eligible air operators in the region. This means that East African countries will continue relying on bilateral agreements to access each other’s air space.

Barry Kashambo, executive director of the East African Community’s Civil Aviation Safety and Security Oversight Agency (Cassoa), said although the regulations to implement the liberalisation of air services have been developed, they await the conclusion of consultations on a single sub-regulation regarding ownership of aircraft and operation control of eligible operators.

“It is anticipated that consensus will be reached in the near future to allow implementation of the regulations. But all indications are that partner states are committed to having this process concluded as soon as possible,” said Mr Kashambo.

Liberalisation of air services is aimed at eliminating restrictions and providing guiding principles that will promote and ease movement of persons, goods and cargo by air.

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“The overall objective is to increase the air traffic capacity and reduce frequency costs to the passenger and other stakeholders,” said Mr Kashambo. “The eligible operators such as those in Kenya will then access a wider market.”

The regulations have been developed in compliance with the Yamoussoukro Decision of 1999. Mr Kashambo said partner states will be expected to grant each other the free exercise of the rights of the first, second, third, fourth and fifth freedoms of the air on scheduled and non-scheduled passenger, cargo and or mail flights performed by an eligible airline to or from their respective territories.

In case of tariff increases for the carriage of passenger, cargo and mail, there shall be no approval required by the aeronautical authorities of the state parties concerned. The airlines shall simply file such tariffs before competent authorities 30 working days before they enter into effect.

Samuel Nyandemo, an economist at the University of Nairobi, said that for the EAC to effectively benefit from economies of scale it has to have a single air space.

“Liberalising East Africa’s air space will have an added advantage of mobilisation of the necessary market support of key partners such as the EU,” said Dr Nyandemo adding that it will also increase co-operation in airline operations and code-sharing and drive cross-border investment in regional airlines.

Industry experts say that 80 per cent of traffic in Africa is served by non-African airlines. Waturi Matu, co-ordinator of East African Tourism Platform said the high cost of air travel across the region is hurting the growth of the tourism industry. 

“Flying across the EAC bloc is expensive compared with other regions across the continent and globally,” said Ms Matu adding that Kampala is the most expensive destination in the region. “So we end up losing because of the high cost of tickets,” she said.

Flying from one of the EAC countries to another costs between $220 and $350 minus taxes, for a return trip. The high cost of travel in the region is as a result of lack of uniform airspace policies and high airport fees across the region.

Statistics show that air traffic in Africa has been growing at about 6 per cent a year since the past decade, with growth estimated to be strongest in Southern and East Africa. The three categories of air travel domestic, regional and intercontinental. International traffic within sub-Saharan Africa (including EAC) grew slightly faster, at an average of 6.5 per cent per year.

Factors constraining the EAC industry include the uncompetitive domestic and Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASAs) regulatory regimes, fiscal policies such as airport taxes and limited subsidisation on a sector which is otherwise highly subsidised globally, high Insurance premiums, management inefficiencies, security concerns and safety oversight.