THE International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said that out of the $1.662 billion of airline funds blocked from repatriation globally, $950 million is in African countries, noting that within Africa, the largest amounts are in the XAF and XOF (West African and Central Africa currency codes) zone where over $300 million is being withheld.
Speaking at the 2024 African Airlines Association’s (AFRAA) Annual General Assembly (AGA) in Cairo, Egypt, the director general of International Air Transport Association (IATA), Willie Walsh, revealed this on the position of the trapped funds of foreign airlines.
Addressing the gathering of the African airlines body, Walsh declared “Working with your teams, progress has been made. But every success seems to be balanced by an increase somewhere else, the problem is persistent. No country wants to lose connectivity, which drives economic prosperity. That is the strongest point in our argumentation. If airlines cannot repatriate their revenues, they cannot be expected to provide service.” Economies will suffer if connectivity collapses. So it is in everybody’s interest including the government to ensure that airlines can repatriate their funds smoothly.
The IATA DG while describing Africa as home to 18 percent of the world’s population revealed how unfortunately the continent can only account for just three percent of the global GDP.
According to Walsh, despite the 18 percent representation of the continent in the world’s population Africa accounts for an even smaller share of global air transport of just two percent.
Walsh remarked “As Africa’s airline leaders, I know that you are ready to take advantage of this potential to grow your airlines and connect the continent. I also understand the enormous challenges you face among these, high costs and taxes, including the highest into-wing jet fuel prices in the world, low adoption of global safety standards, and airport infrastructure in need of investment.
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“I don’t come here with any magic solutions, but as your global association I want to assure you that we work closely with AFRAA, we are focused on your needs, and we are looking at how we can support our members’ success even more effectively. And, while I am here, I will be keen to hear your feedback and ideas. I also want to share some thoughts on three critical issues. The first is safety, always our top priority. Safety thrives with global standards. We see that clearly in IOSA, a condition of membership for both AFRAA and IATA.
“Airlines on the IOSA registry outperform those not on the registry. That is the case in Africa and globally. Africa has made significant improvements in safety. There were no hull losses or fatal accidents between 2020- and 2023. However, we took a step backwards from this in 2024. And even in 2023 the African turboprop hull loss rate was the highest in the world. This tells us that there is still work to do on safety.
“Part of that work is safety culture. The IATA Safety Leadership Charter provides eight principles aimed to standardize a global approach for safety culture in each airline. Some 118 airline CEO’s have signed, fourteen of these are in Africa. While that is a significant number, with 37 IATA members and 65 IOSA airlines in the continent, there is scope for more to join.
“If you have not yet signed, I encourage you to do so.An increased willingness to share data is an important outcome of an effective safety culture. The more data we can bring together, the more powerful the insights we can draw from it. Along with encouraging you to sign the Safety Leadership Charter, I also ask that airlines not yet contributing their data to the Global Aviation Data Management (GADM) initiative to do so.
