Iata Pushes For Safety Improvements And Revenue Repatriation To Strengthen African Aviation: You Need To Know

Thursday, July 31, 2025

IATA urges African Governments to recognize nan imaginable of aviation for Africa JOHANNESBURG – The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has urged governments successful Africa to maximize nan affirmative societal and economical powerfulness of aviation. The relation besides calls connected governments to support safety, trim taxes connected aviation arsenic good arsenic unblock hose costs that would let nan assemblage beforehand African economical growth.

Key Priorities for African Governments

IATA has identified 3 awesome areas of attraction for African governments to amended nan authorities of aviation crossed nan continent. These priorities see improving safety, reducing taxes and charges, and eliminating nan rumor of blocked costs which presently hampers nan operational capabilities of airlines successful Africa.

1. Improving Aviation Safety Standards

IATA has highlighted nan captious value of gathering world information standards to guarantee world-class aviation information successful Africa. While nan continent has made progress, it still lags down nan world mean successful nan implementation of nan International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPS). The existent effective implementation complaint for ICAO SARPS stands astatine 59.49% crossed 46 of 48 Sub-Saharan African states, which is considerably little than nan world mean of 69.16% and nan target of 75%.

IATA urges African governments to enactment decisively to adjacent this spread by prioritizing nan implementation of ICAO standards. Specifically, IATA calls for a renewed attraction connected runway safety, an area wherever Africa faced important challenges successful 2024. Runway excursions, nan astir prevalent shape of mishap successful nan region, underline nan urgent request for ICAO’s Runway Safety Team missions to beryllium reinstated astatine airports crossed Africa. Additionally, IATA advocates for African states to align pinch ICAO Annex 13 standards, ensuring that timely and meticulous mishap reports are published. The deficiency of last reports connected 34 of nan 42 accidents that occurred successful Africa betwixt 2018 and 2023 is an ongoing concern.

To further heighten safety, IATA emphasizes nan value of devices specified arsenic nan IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) and nan IATA Standard Safety Assessment (ISSA), which thief fortify hose information capacity and beforehand a risk-based attack to operational safety. These devices connection a pathway for consistent, reliable regulatory oversight and tin thief mitigate nan risks that aviation information successful Africa presently faces.

2. Reducing Taxes and Charges

The taxation and charging strategy for aerial recreation successful Africa is notably higher than nan world average. On average, taxes and charges successful Africa are 15% higher than those successful different parts of nan world. This excessive taxation not only burdens travelers but besides threatens to stifle economical growth, arsenic precocious costs discourage aerial travel, thereby hindering nan aviation sector’s imaginable to create jobs and thrust societal and economical development.

IATA urges governments crossed nan continent to reconsider their attack to aviation taxes. The relation emphasizes that aviation should beryllium recognized not arsenic a costs but arsenic a catalyst for growth. By facilitating nan activity of group and goods, aviation has a multiplier effect that stimulates employment crossed aggregate sectors. Governments should alternatively attraction connected building infrastructure that supports semipermanent maturation and is some cost-efficient and scalable, moving successful adjacent coordination pinch nan aviation manufacture to create an enabling situation for nan sector’s success.

3. Eliminating Blocked Funds

Another pressing rumor for African aviation is nan problem of blocked hose funds. Airlines operating successful Africa are often incapable to repatriate gross generated successful nan region, which violates world treaties and bilateral agreements that guarantee nan free travel of capital. As of May 2025, astir \$1 cardinal successful hose revenues stay blocked successful Africa, accounting for 73% of each world blocked funds. This rumor spans 26 African countries and is simply a important obstruction to maintaining world connectivity.

The inability to entree and repatriate costs leads airlines to trim formation frequencies aliases suspend routes altogether, limiting nan connectivity that African economies trust connected for waste and acquisition and tourism. IATA calls connected governments to fulfill their world obligations and region each barriers to nan repatriation of hose revenues, ensuring that aviation continues to service arsenic a captious pillar of nan continent’s economy.

IATA’s Call for Support of CORSIA

In summation to these priorities, IATA advocates for greater African engagement successful nan Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA). CORSIA is simply a important constituent of nan world aviation industry’s committedness to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. Currently, 129 countries, including 20 African nations, are participating successful CORSIA’s voluntary reporting phase, which will modulation to mandatory reporting successful 2027.

IATA urges African governments to guarantee nan occurrence of CORSIA arsenic a market-based system for addressing CO2 emissions from world aviation. Rather than introducing nationalist aliases location taxes that could part and undermine world efforts, governments should prioritize participating successful CORSIA, which allows airlines to meet their emissions simplification targets done offsetting. Additionally, IATA encourages African states to make Eligible Emissions Units (EEUs) disposable to airlines for their offsetting obligations. By doing so, African nations not only lend to world emissions reductions but besides guidelines to use economically by generating gross from c markets, attracting ambiance investment, and supporting occupation creation.

Conclusion: A Unified Path Forward for African Aviation

African aviation will stay viable and scope its afloat imaginable for being nan premier mover of economical improvement and maturation if nan governments tin situation themselves and return action connected getting amended trustworthiness, getting free of excessive taxation and getting backmost hose costs for blocked accounts. By collaborating pinch manufacture players, African countries tin create an aviation manufacture that is safe, businesslike and capable to support semipermanent growth. Backing CORSIA and harmonising pinch world sustinability initiatives will beryllium an further boost, pinch African aviation taking its rightful spot astatine nan apical array of world aerial travel.

In nan end, nan free workout of these measures will support accrued connectivity, and further assistance nan economical imagination of an interconnected Africa and a strong, competitory aviation manufacture that will only successful nan early turn much robust and sustainable.