W/African States Open Direct Flights to Abuja
Stories by Chinedu Eze
Heads of state of West African countries have agreed to have direct flights from the capital of each country to Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, the headquarters of ECOWAS.
By this development, Nigerian airlines are free to operate unhindered from Abuja to any capital city in West Africa; therefore Abuja has become the melting pot of airline operation in the sub-region.
This was disclosed by the Legal Advisor, African Civil Aviation Commission (AF- CAC), Sam Gaya who spoke to THISDAY on Tuesday at the African Aviation Summit 2015 in Johannesburg, South Africa, that what the West African states have done is an extension of Yamoussoukro Declaration (YD).
Gaya said that it was an opportunity for Nigerian airlines to operate freely in these countries without hindrances as Africa strives for full implementation of open skies in 2017.
Gaya, a Nigerian who worked for the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) before he moved to AFCAC, which has its headquarters in Dakar, Senegal, said that YD objective was for African airlines to operate freely in Africa without bilateral hindrances and that the planned open skies for Africa is the component of the Yamoussoukro Declaration or Decision.
“The concept of single African skies is what the heads of state agreed in January, 2015 must come into place by 2017. The single African sky is a continuation of the YD. It is the ultimate actualisation of the YD. so you have only one sky in Africa; you don’t need any bilateral air service agreement; you just file your flight plan and fly from Lagos to Abidjan.
“The YD provides for safety and security, which must meet the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards, so we must look at all those areas. So we have to look at all those areas before 2017. These are the standards of ICAO. Before you allow an airline to come it must meet these standards,” Gaya said.
He noted that since year 2000 Nigeria has been implementing YD, observing that it is a rule in Nigeria to implement YD, adding that the country does not have any problem implementing YD, but unfortunately Nigerian airlines have not taken advantage of this policy by operating to different destinations in the continent.
“It is for the airlines in Nigeria to take advantage of the implementation of YD. Let me go back, Asky airline in Togo flies to about 34 countries in Africa under YD and it is a private airline. So why shouldn’t Nigerian airlines which are also private airlines utilise the opportunity that Nigeria has given them? They are not utilising it; it is not the fault of government.
“Nigeria is the market, 170 to 200 million people, Nigeria is the market. There is even a decision of the heads of state of West Africa that every capital of every country in the sub-region should be connected to Abuja. This is in addition to YD. So there is no Nigerian airline that cannot fly as a rule to any capital city in West Africa. Abuja being the headquarters of ECOWAS must be linked to the capital of every country in the sub-region,” Gaya also said.