11 February 2005
African Airlines
There is an important difference between reality and aspiration.
For more than 40 years African States and airlines have been developing policies on airline access that are beautiful. And as the years have passed there has been a steady progression towards the highest cost, lowest served and connected markets in the world.
During the same time the operating climate for airlines has become harsher and the prospects for successful airline establishment are grim - even in the rich countries and less so in the poor.
Post 9/11 the climate has become even more difficult. Costs are higher and rising - with security, fuel and Insurance particularly demanding. Capital costs of aircraft are jumping. Yields and revenue are not growing at the same rate. Politicians continue to regard the sector as a cash cow rather than an export enabler.
Competition is making the equation even more complex. The major airlines are consolidating into alliances and code share to spread networks and bolster competition. Low fare carriers are spreading their wings. The global regulatory framework is liberalizing with markets opening and investment opportunities increasing.
The reality is also tourism needs competitive air service to keep supply up, prices down and airlines innovative. And poor countries need it the most.
Air service is the lifeline for poor countries to tourism driven growth, development and poverty elimination.
They need post 9/11 help to meet both the old style and post 9/11 cost escalation.
They need help to maintain the quality levels - technical and in-flight - which require cost and human capacity at very high levels.
Poor countries need air services with tourists inside to create jobs and wealth across their economies not simply to have flags on their tales and drains on their economies.
They should look for innovative approaches like alliances; trans border collaboration and partnerships to achieve their aspirations.
They need development support for this sector and its tourism markets, which are a classic market failure in a globalizing, liberalizing environment.
They need to ease all regulations and restrictions, which inhibit air service operation, prevent capital injection or limit trans border collaboration.
They need to include Tourism and Air Service expansion in their PRSP's.
They need treat the sector as an export and negotiate for asymmetrical, pro-poverty, reduction liberalization structures in the Doha development framework.
To help these states with practical actions rather than nice resolutions the World Tourism Organization has been working assiduously on two approaches.
ETDR (Essential Tourism Development Routes) a joint study with ICAO showing how the techniques used by rich countries to cover market failure air service operations in their own borders (US and EU) could be applied to air services for poor countries. In the rich countries development support is given for so called essential air service which need to be operated for basic societal development purposes. The parallel is clear.
SAFE (Security and Facilitation Enhancement) to provide development support for the necessary equipment and human capacity building to improve the global protection system. And simultaneously to simplify the systems that increase control and allow quality standards to be met in documentation, visa issuance and people throughput.
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