RwandAir CEO urges concrete action to implement Africa’s open skies agenda

# What happened

# The specific ask Makolo urged a "coalition of the willing" focused on implementation and identified three immediate priorities:

• Release blocked airline funds. Industry figures cited in her piece put blocked revenues at nearly USD774 million as of March 2026.
• Greater commercial cooperation between African carriers through interline agreements and fifth‑freedom operations to make more direct intra‑African connections commercially viable.
• Align the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) rollout with the African Union's Free Movement Protocol so passengers can actually travel across borders without administrative or operational hurdles.

# Why this matters now SAATM has momentum on paper: 38 African states have signed up and more than 100 intra‑African routes have been opened in recent years. Yet implementation lags. Makolo highlighted concrete pain points:

• Only 19% of intra‑African city pairs are served by direct flights.
• Aviation taxes and charges in Africa run about 15% above the global average.
• On some regional routes taxes, fees, and overflight charges account for nearly half the ticket price.

She noted that it is often easier for African carriers to set up codeshares with non‑African airlines than with other African operators, which forces many passengers to connect through Europe or the Gulf when travelling between African cities.

# What Makolo wants measured Rather than judging progress by signed agreements, Makolo proposed practical indicators:

• Lower average fares on intra‑African routes.
• Observable improvements in direct connectivity between African city pairs.
• Release of blocked revenues back to carriers.

These are concrete outcomes that can be tracked on defined timelines.

# Immediate actions implied The call for a coalition of the willing implies a short list of implementable actions:

• Governments and regulators to unblock withheld airline revenues and remove or reduce punitive taxes and excessive fees.
• Airlines to prioritise intra‑African commercial arrangements (interline and fifth‑freedom traffic rights) where commercially feasible.
• Policy makers to sequence SAATM steps with visa and border‑control arrangements under the Free Movement Protocol so passengers aren't blocked by mismatched rules.

# Practical implications

# Bottom line