This, as most national carriers, including Kenya Airways , continue to struggle with losses.
A number the continent’s national carriers have since wounded up over huge losses and debt.
“Protecting individual country’s airlines is not a solution. We need to walk the talk in the continent of Africa; to open the airspace,” Balala said.
He spoke during a virtual tourism forum dubbed ‘Invest, Rebuild and Restart the African Tourism Sector’.
Opening the skies will in turn help growth of tourism by making travel within the continent much easier, he said.
Africa is home to 12 per cent of the world’s population, but it accounts for less than one per cent of the global air service market.
Of the 1.47 billion annual tourists traffic (pre-Covid), Africa is said to account for three per cent of outbound tourists and five per cent of inbound tourists, the lowest share.
Part of the reason for Africa’s under-served status, according to a World Bank study, Open Skies for Africa – Implementing the Yamoussoukro Decision, is that many African countries restrict their air services markets to protect the share held by state-owned air carriers.
This practice originated in the early 1960s when many newly-independent African states created national airlines, in part, to assert their status as nations.
However, most have recognised that the strict regulatory protection that sustains such carriers, has detrimental effects of air safety records, while also inflating air fares and dampening air traffic growth.
In 1999, African ministers responsible for civil aviation adopted the Yamoussoukro Decision, named for the Ivorian city in which it was agreed.
It commits its 44 signatory countries to deregulate air services, and promote regional air markets open to transnational competition.
It followed up on the Yamoussoukro Declaration of 1988, in which many of the same countries agreed to principles of air services liberalization.
In 2000, the Decision was endorsed by head of states and governments…