by Chukwuemeke Iwelunmo November 11, 2019
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has listed Safety, cost-competitiveness, opening the continent to travel and trade, and ender diversity as four key areas of priorities governments and industry in Africa should to focus on to allow aviation to drive economic and social development on the continent.
It stated that this would help to enrich people’s lives and enable the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG’s).
Director-General and CEO of IATA Alexandre de Juniac made the disclosure in its remarks in a keynote speech at the 51st Annual General Assembly of the African Airline Association (AFRAA) in Mauritius.
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He said, “Across the African continent, the promise and potential of aviation is rich. Already it supports USD 55.8 billion in economic activity and 6.2 million jobs. And, as demand more than doubles over the next two decades, the critical role that aviation plays in Africa’s economic and social development will grow in equal proportion”.
“With the right tax and regulatory framework, the opportunities aviation creates to improve people’s lives are tremendous”.
The IATA chief noted that his top priority has always been safety, warning that stakeholders must never forget that global standards have helped to make aviation the safest form of long-distance transport.
“There is a good example of that in the safety performance of African airlines. The continent had no fatal jet accidents in 2016, 2017 and 2018. That is largely due to the coordinated efforts of all stakeholders with a focus on global standards, guided by the Abuja Declaration. But there is still more work to do. Taking these three steps will raise the safety bar even higher,” said de Juniac.
IATA also called for the industry to do more to improve its gender diversity and for airlines in the region to support the recently launched 25by2025 campaign.
The 25by2025 campaign is a voluntary program for airlines to commit to increasing female participation at senior levels to at least 25 per cent or to improve it by 25 per cent by the year 2025. The choice of target helps airlines at any point on the diversity journey to participate meaningfully.
“It is no secret that women are under-represented in some technical professions as well as in senior management at airlines. It is also well-known that we are a growing industry that needs a big pool of skilled talent. Africa can be proud of its leadership in this area. But we need to do more. The 25by2025 initiative will help move our industry in the right direction,” said de Juniac
