Single African Air Transport Market Expands

More countries have joined the Single African Air Transport Market, the flagship project that is opening up the skies across the continent. Launched in 2018, SAATM aims to create a single, unified and liberalised intra-African air transport market by fully opening services, market access and removing restrictions on ownership.

For travellers and businesses, the benefits are direct. Today many journeys between neighbouring African countries are slow and expensive, sometimes requiring connections outside the continent. A genuinely single market means more direct routes, more competition and lower fares, connecting African capitals and commercial centres far more efficiently.

The wider economic case is just as strong. Better air connectivity supports trade, tourism, investment and the movement of skills, reinforcing the broader integration agenda alongside the African Continental Free Trade Area and the protocol on the free movement of people.

As more states implement their commitments, SAATM moves the continent closer to the Moonshot of a more integrated and connected Africa, where people, goods and ideas move freely across borders.