Africa-Press – Angola. The president of the Southern African Airlines Association (AASA), Aaron Munetsi, defended this Friday, in Luanda, the reduction of travel costs in the Southern sub-region and the exemption from tourist visas as determining factors for boost interconnectivity on the continent.
In addition to boosting interconnectivity on the continent, according to the association leader, the reduction in travel costs and the exemption from tourist visas improves the positioning of the African sector in the context of global aviation.
Speaking on the sidelines of the 53rd AASA General Assembly, he considered maintaining operational security as one of the major challenges facing the African civil aviation sector to connect the continent, along with the suppression of tourist visas for Africans, as well as the reduction the cost of airline tickets.
“The African continent operates at very low levels and to change this situation it is enough to promote more than one and a half billion citizens of the continent as potential travelers with lower travel costs, which will result in improved inter-African connections.
In the South African’s view, this goal will help achieve the creation of a single market in Africa, with the effect of opening the continent’s “skies” to more companies, with a rising flow of passengers allowing companies to become self-sustainable. .
With this, continued the leader, the continent’s citizens should start trading with each other, which is why AASA supports the effective implementation of the African Free Trade Area.
According to the official, the leaders of African countries need to open the borders and eliminate visas for fellow citizens.
In this particular, Aaron Munetsi, highlighted the Angolan Government’s measure in allowing tourist citizens from more than 93 countries to enter Angola without the aforementioned visa.
This act, explains the interviewee, helps to boost travel and tourism in the region, particularly in Angola, and sets an example for other States to follow.
“There is hope for other countries on the continent to follow Angola’s example in order to improve travel traffic and thus intensify trade and consolidate the continent’s economy”, he asserted.
Likewise, in an interview with ANGOP, the secretary of the Civil Aviation Authority of South Africa, Nivashnee Naraindath, said that her country has invested heavily in the civil aviation industry and systems, based on new procedures.
On the other hand, the official said that South Africa has intensified cooperation with many countries in the region to improve the continent’s air aviation system.
The 53rd General Assembly of the Southern African Airlines Association (AASA) brought together more than 200 delegates from companies and operators in the sector in Luanda to discuss the development of commercial aviation on the continent.
The event is co-organized by TAAG, representing Angola, being the first time in the country. This is a privileged platform for networking and strengthening relationships between industry players, providing the Angolan aviation ecosystem with the opportunity to promote its strengths within the international community.
AASA is a regional association that brings together African airlines based south of the Equator, acting as a representative on the Civil Aviation Committee of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Founded in 1970, it has 16 airlines as members, namely TAAG, Air Austral, Air Botswana, Airlink, Air Zimbabwe, Congo Airways, Eswatini Air, Federal Airlines, FlyCobra, FlySafair and LAM-Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique.
Likewise, they are associated with LIFT, Mango Airlines, Moçambique Express, Proflight Zambia and South African Airways.
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