EAC asked to liberalise airspace
Passengers board a plane at Entebbe Airport recently. Some flight fares within East Africa are as high as those charged to some Middle East destinations. FILE PHOTO
Kampala. East African partner states have been asked to urgently liberalise the bloc’s airspace as a way of facilitating trade competition in the region.
Mr Felix Mosha, the East African Business Council (EABC) chairperson, made the appeal at a regional private sector meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, last week.
“There is urgent need for partner states to liberalise the EAC airspace as a matter of urgency to facilitate trade competition in the region”.
“It is ironic that air fares between EAC capital cities are higher than a round trip between these cities and Dubai or even close to the fare to North America,” he claimed.
East Africa continues to shoulder high flight fares due to protectionist tendencies exercised by individual countries.
Thus, Mr Mosha said the region must adopt the EAC air transport regulations, which harmonises regulatory charges in order for the region to have a levelled ground.
East Africa has for about a decade now been fast tracking measures through which the region could achieve trade competitiveness among different countries.
For instance, measures such as the single custom territory and the single monetary union are so far some of the key issues that are being worked upon for the achievement of the region’s federation.
Trade barriers
The appeal. Mr Mosha appealed to regional governments to find solutions to the continued existence of non-tariff barriers that impede growth of trade.
