The significance of the Yamoussoukro Decision in the recovery of the civil aviation market in Africa post the COVID-19 pandemic : a consideration of the meaningful impact of the African airspace

Abstract

The Yamoussoukro Decision is an air transport framework agreement adopted by 54 African states in 1999 with one of its objectives being the achievement of the gradual yet full liberalisation of scheduled and non-scheduled air transport services on the African continent. The Yamoussoukro Decision was however not borne singularly from the Assembly of Heads of State that took place in Lomé, Togo from 10 until 12 July 2000. Prior to the adoption of the Yamoussoukro Decision, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which is the current day African Union (AU), under the auspices of the Economic Commission for Africa of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNECA), adopted the Declaration of Yamoussoukro on A New African Air Transport Policy, (Yamoussoukro Declaration) in 1988 which are a set of measures designed to enable signatories thereto to exchange air traffic rights in a liberal manner, address the issue of under-development in the African air transport market and to achieve the integration of African airlines. These were collective measures that were taken to respond to and counter the socio-economic challenges faced by the continent, to be achieved through, at that particular juncture, the integration of African airlines within a period of eight years. This was the beginning of an attempt to liberalise the African airspace, albeit not explicitly expressed as such in the policy document. An expanded policy framework known as the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) was launched in Ethiopia as part of the continued efforts by the AU to expedite the liberalisation of the African continent air transportation market. These policy instruments remain critical for the recovery of the African air transportation market from the COVID-19 pandemic.