News:
May 7, 2025
The Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Hadja Mémounatou Ibrahima, has decried the high cost of air travel within the West African sub-region, describing it as a major obstacle to free movement and regional integration.
Ibrahima emphasized that air transport is a vital tool for economic development and regional integration, noting that there can be no free movement of people without effective and affordable transport facilitation.
She made these remarks on Tuesday during the opening of the Sixth Legislature Delocalised Meeting of the Joint Committee on Infrastructure, Energy and Mines, Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources, held in Lomé, Togo. The meeting, themed “Air Transport as a Means of Integration for West African Peoples: A Strategy for Reducing Airline Ticket Costs,” brought together regional stakeholders and experts to discuss the way forward.
She said: “The theme that brings us together today, ‘Air Transport as a Means of Integration for West African Peoples: A Strategy for Reducing Airline Ticket Costs,’ is of paramount importance to our community. It reflects a major issue facing our citizens: the prohibitive costs of air travel between our countries, which hinder the free movement of people and compromise our ambitions for regional integration.
“Therefore, there is no need to emphasize the importance of air transport in a country’s economy, especially within a sub-regional community. Indeed, air transport is an essential lever for economic development and sub-regional integration. It promotes trade, stimulates tourism, strengthens cultural and social ties, and contributes to the growth of our economies. In reality, there can be no free movement without transport facilitation. And among these facilitations, transport costs figure prominently.”
Ibrahima attributed the soaring airfares to multiple taxes and charges imposed across airports in the region; stating that these airports contribute financially to state budgets in several ways, including landing fees, air ticket taxes, security taxes, non-aviation taxes, and revenues from commercial activities at the airport. However, it is clear that all these fees make air ticket costs prohibitive within the ECOWAS region, thus hampering a major driver of development – tourism.
She further pointed to other contributing factors, including fragmentation of the aviation market and poor infrastructure.
“For my part, several factors may contribute to the high cost of air fares in our region. These include, among others: excessive taxation and high airport fees; a fragmented aviation market, with national airlines operating in isolation rather than in synergy; a lack of modern infrastructure adapted to the needs of air transport; weak implementation of agreements liberalizing African airspace, notably the Yamoussoukro Declaration.”
Warning of the implications for the region’s long-term goals, Ibrahima noted that the ECOWAS Vision 2050 would remain elusive without an efficient and affordable air transport system.
“If we are to achieve the objectives of the third pillar of ECOWAS Vision 2050, ‘Economic Integration and Interconnectivity,’ it is up to us, as representatives of the peoples of ECOWAS and in view of our responsibility in the Community’s decision-making process, to explore viable and sustainable solutions. Our role is crucial in the realization of these reforms.”
She therefore urged the Legislature to develop strong recommendations that would guide Member States and relevant institutions in establishing a policy framework for more accessible regional air transport.
“I am convinced that the discussions that will take place during this meeting, to which we have invited African air transport experts and leaders, will be fruitful and will lead to concrete proposals to address this major challenge.
“Together, let us commit to working towards more efficient regional aviation, serving the integration and development of our community and for significant progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the aspirations that underpinned the African Union’s Agenda 2063.”
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com