AFRAA Secretary General – Mr Abderahmane Berthé participated in a panel session at the side event during the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development during the fifty-seventh session of the Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa – Ethiopia on 15 March 2025.
The panel was themed: The Single African Air Transport Market, the free movement of people and the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Mr Berthé intervened on what needs to be done to improve air connectivity and reduce the cost of air transport in Africa, the evolution of air freight in Africa and the extent of impact of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) on air freight in Africa.
Actions to improve air connectivity and reduce the cost of air transport in Africa
From the perspective of African Airlines, several factors need to be addressed to improve air connectivity and reduce the cost of air transport in Africa:
- Facilitate market access through traffic rights and people’s mobility.
- Commercial cooperation of African airlines and consolidation.
- Reducing the cost of operations and taxes and charges.
- Improving Ground, Flight, and Maintenance efficiencies in Airlines to improve performance.
- Improving the overall economies of African states will create growth and jobs and, therefore, make air transport affordable for African citizens.
- Facilitate airlines’ access to financing to optimise their fleet and network.
- Promoting intra-Africa tourism and trade to support the air transport business in developing the traffic.
- As connectivity improves and traffic grows, we should pay attention to adequate airport infrastructure development.
“AFRAA has in place a Route and Network Coordination Committee using AFRAA’s Route Intelligence Portal to generate commercial interline and codeshare agreements. On airline collaboration, the AFRAA fuel purchase programme is instrumental to reduce operational costs, as fuel accounts for 30 to 40 percent of airlines’ expenses.” Mr. Berthé highlighted.
“AFRAA is also steering the Free Route Airspace (FRA) project which aims to reduce operations costs, flight times, and CO2 emissions. This is one of the projects that arose from the AFRAA-hosted Air Transport Sustainability LAB in June 2022 in Nairobi.” He added.
Air freight in Africa
Belly freight is a crucial component of the air cargo industry, providing a cost-effective way to transport goods alongside passengers. Therefore, enhancing connectivity with SAATM will positively affect air cargo flows.
In Africa, the biggest challenge is the high expenses, including cargo handling fees, fuel costs, and freight taxes, making transporting lower-value products unprofitable. Half of Africa’s airports lack adequate cargo infrastructure for handling perishable goods.
The recent growth of cargo freight for cut flowers, vegetables, fresh fruits, and seafood necessitates investment in cold cargo facilities.
There is need to address standardization of documentation and reduction of customs bureaucracy and adapt regulations to full cargo operations.
The high cost of cargo operations makes it difficult to develop e-commerce, which is a trending opportunity for Africa.
On AFRAA air cargo actions, Mr. Berthé stated: “At AFRAA, we have a cargo committee to enhance airlines’ cooperation. It is critical to create cargo connectivity through airlines’ cooperation. Airlines need data-driven decisions. We are ready and willing to work with the AfCFTA secretariat to develop African cargo routes.”
The side event was organized by the UNECA Technology, Innovation, Connectivity and Infrastructure Development Division and the Regional Integration and Trade Division. The panel session was moderated by Ato Girma Wake, Former CEO and Board Chairman, Ethiopian Airlines.