Implement Accord on air transport liberalization – President Mills
President John Evans Atta Mills on Tuesday appealed to signatories of the Yamoussoukro Accord on the Liberalization of Air Transport Market in Africa to help ensure that the continent possessed an improved air transport system.
The Accord, which was approved by transport/aviation ministers of the continent in 1999 stipulated that all signatory states were to progressively eliminate all non-physical barriers in the aviation industry including those linked to the granting of traffic rights, tariffs and the number of frequencies and the capacities of air services.
In a message read for the President by Alhaji Collins Dauda, Minister of Transport, during a one day meeting of ECOWAS aviation ministers, expressed unhappiness about the inability of signatory countries to implement the Accord, due to the fear of having their local aviation industries compete with foreign established airlines.
He appealed to those countries which had not yet implemented the Accord to do so without further delay as it will lead to a considerable increase in the volume and frequency of flights within West Africa.
President Atta Mills said air transport played a vital role in the physical integration of the West African sub-region and called for the improvement of the safety and the technical capacities of the industry in order to boost the confidence of the people.
He said “I wish to commend the Director Generals of Civil Aviation in the sub-region who met in Lome, Togo in May, to establish one unique Regional Aviation Safety Oversight Organisation in order to create a common safety rules for all ECOWAS air transport providers.
President Atta Mills urged the aviation ministers to create an enabling environment for private sector participation in the aviation industry adding that “You may also deliberate on how to promote strong alliance and cooperation among ECOWAS airlines companies in order to remain competitive and profitable in the global market”.
Mrs Doreen Owusu-Fianko, Director of the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), expressed unhappiness about the collapse of traditional air carriers such as Air Afrique, Ghana Airways and Nigeria Airways which were the pride of their countries.
She called on the transport/aviation ministers to assess the challenges faced by the industry practitioners in the implementation of air transport policies adding that Ghana’s aviation industry has been noted as one of the fastest growing and perhaps the most competitive in the West African sub-region with a growth rate of about 20percent.
She said the number of airlines plying their trade in the country had doubled from 15 in the beginning of the millennium to about 36 in 2011 and with increasing interest been shown by other foreign carriers.
Mrs Owusu-Fianko said GACL in collaboration with government had begun the construction of nine additional parking stands to accommodate wide-bodied aircrafts at the Kotoka International Airport among other projects.
Source: GNA