The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has called on African governments to prioritise aviation as a strategic enabler of economic and social development.
“Aviation is economic infrastructure for Africa,” said Kamil Alawadhi, IATA’s regional vice president for Africa and the Middle East, during IATA’s Focus Africa Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, last week. “Its value lies in the long-term benefits it delivers. An aviation strategy focused on safety, cost-competitiveness, energy security/sustainability, and ease of doing business will create jobs, enable trade, support tourism, and further regional integration.
“The prosperity this generates will allow governments to push forward social and economic development more durably than any tax that might be collected from travelers.”
A strategy for aviation in Africa
At the Focus Africa Conference, IATA urged governments to pursue a comprehensive aviation strategy with the following elements:
1. Improving safety
Africa has made significant progress in aviation safety. Between 2024 and 2025, the accident rate fell from 12.13 to 7.86 per million sectors, but it remains well above the global average of 1.32 and is the highest among all regions.
To further improve safety in Africa, IATA called for all parties in IATA’s Collaborative Aviation Safety Improvement Program (CASIP) to mobilise resources in three areas:
- Increase the implementation of ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPS). Average effective implementation across 46 of 48 Sub Saharan African states stands at 60.34%, compared with the global average of 69.46% and the global target of 75%.
- Publish accident reports. Between 2019-2023, only 19% of accident reports were completed versus a global average of 63%. Accident investigation reports that are delayed, incomplete, or unpublished withhold valuable safety insights that can improve safety. This underscores the need for improved compliance with state investigation obligations under Annex 13 of the Chicago Convention.
- Leverage global safety audits. Greater use of IOSA, ISSA and ISAGO can strengthen airline safety performance, support effective regulatory oversight, and promote a consistent, risk-based approach to operational safety.
2. Cost-competitiveness
The cost of doing aviation business in Africa is high. A key element of this are the taxes and charges by governments and infrastructure providers, the burden of which is about 15% higher in Africa than the global average. To address this, IATA called for:
- Reversing the trend of increasing API-PNR charges. Tanzania’s API-PNR charge of USD 45 one-way is the highest globally, while charges in Angola, D.R. Congo, Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya also exceed global norms. Governments profiting from these charges—contrary to ICAO SARPs—distort ticket pricing and undermine connectivity.
- Implementing the ECOWAS December 2025 decision to eliminate aviation taxes and reduce select charges by 25%. Full and consistent implementation at the national level without further delay is critical to maximize the benefits from lowering aviation costs.
- Preserving residence-based corporate taxation of airlines. Proposals emerging from African countries in UN tax discussions on source-based taxation should be rejected. The cross-border nature of aviation makes residence-based (tax paid at the headquarters location) the most efficient and fair method for corporate taxation. Source-based taxation would risk double taxation (or worse) as the ‘source’ for any one ticket is often spread across multiple jurisdictions.
3. Ease of doing business
Removing roadblocks to ease doing business is essential for aviation to thrive. IATA highlighted two areas of particular concern:
- Ensure frictionless repatriation of revenues in line with global standards. While treaties and bilateral agreements stipulate the right of airlines to repatriate revenues earned across their networks, governments’ failure to comply with these obligations results in funds being blocked. African countries account for the largest proportion of global blocked funds, with a total of USD 774 million blocked as of end-March 2026.
Algeria accounts for the highest amount of blocked funds, at USD 258-million, followed by XAF Zone (USD 105-million), Mozambique (USD 82-million), Eritrea (USD 78-million) and Angola (USD 73-million).
“Given the scale of funds blocked in Algeria, urgent and decisive government action in Algeria is essential. But our efforts to engage with the Ministry of Trade and Export Promotion and the Central Bank have been met with little responsiveness and airlines continue to face delays despite complying with burdensome requirements. In Algeria, and all locations where airlines are denied access to their revenues, governments must engage with the industry to find a sustainable solution or risk the consequences on connectivity,” said Alawadhi.
- Reduce visa burdens. Nearly half of intra-African travel still requires visas prior to departure, suppressing regional mobility, tourism, and economic integration. Where visa requirements have been eased, countries have seen stronger tourism flows, more resilient routes, and greater use of regional air services.
4. Sustainability and energy security
Recent disruptions to the global energy supply have highlighted the link between energy security and sustainability, particularly the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). IATA noted the significant benefits that Africa can gain in energy security, jobs and revenue from aligning its efforts on sustainability to the global approach:
- Support CORSIA and make Eligible Emission Units (EEUs) available. CORSIA is the only globally agreed economic measure to manage aviation’s climate change impact. The continent has the potential to make some 57.6-million EEUs available to airlines who need them to fulfil their CORSIA obligations. While this could be a significant source of climate finance for the continent, only Tanzania, Malawi, Rwanda, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Madagascar and Nigeria have taken initial steps to enter the market. IATA urges all African governments to make use of their potential in line with the provisions of the Paris Agreement.
Promote SAF production. IATA’s Global Feedstock Assessment shows that Sub-Saharan Africa could supply up to 106-million tonnes of SAF-suitable feedstock by 2050, largely from agricultural residues, forestry waste, and municipal solid waste. This could be supplemented with energy crops grown on marginal or degraded land areas. With strong, predictable incentive-based policies and investments in collections and processing infrastructure, the current 1.5 Mt of announced renewable fuel capacity could grow exponentially, creating jobs and shoring up energy security.