Failure to honour bilateral pacts stifling African aviation -- Al-Awadhi

Failure to honor bilateral aviation pacts is stifling African air transport, according to Kamil Al-Awadhi, IATA’s regional vice president for Africa and the Middle East. Speaking during the 82nd IATA Annual General Meeting and World Air Transport Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he said Nigeria and Afghanistan rank among the hardest places to establish and sustain airline businesses due to high operating costs. Al-Awadhi urged African governments to implement the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), arguing that progress requires countries to fix and respect bilateral agreements among the 54 states before looking externally. He also discussed fuel-cost pressure tied to the Middle East conflict, noting that supply availability improved after earlier disruption fears. On safety, he cited 7.86 accidents per million flights in Africa in 2025, calling for more government action despite improvements.