The opening of the first African Air Transport Convention and Exhibition in Lomé, Togo, has placed the implementation of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) back at the centre of Africa’s aviation agenda.
Hosted under the theme “One African Sky – Connectivity and Sustainable Air Transport Development”, the event brings together States, regulators, airlines, financiers, trade institutions and other aviation stakeholders at a point where Africa’s open skies policy is moving from long-standing commitment to a more urgent implementation test.
For the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC), the African Union’s specialised agency for civil aviation matters on the continent and the Executing Agency of the Yamoussoukro Decision and SAATM, the Convention is intended to act as a catalyst. Its purpose is not simply to discuss liberalisation, but to bring together the institutions and stakeholders needed to make it operational.
The current SAATM position shows both progress and constraint. Thirty-eight African Union Member States have signed the SAATM commitment. Of these, 12 signatories have completed regulatory alignment and operational open access. A further 16 signatories have reached partial implementation, meaning that progress has been made, but some criteria remain incomplete and restrictions are still in place. Another 10 signatories remain at signature stage only, with no demonstrable operational change.
According to AFCAC’s recent milestones report, 124 new intra-African routes have been launched, including 22 Fifth Freedom routes. Fifth Freedom traffic capacity has increased from 14.5% in 2018 to 23% in 2025 and is on track to reach 30% by 2028.
The figures point to movement in the right direction, but they also underline the uneven pace of implementation. Fifth Freedom rights are still applied inconsistently, blocked funds continue to affect airline operations, visa restrictions remain a barrier to movement, and airport taxes and levies remain inconsistent across markets. These issues are not new, but the pace of change remains slower than the sector requires.
That implementation gap was one of the central themes running through the opening discussions in Lomé. The principles behind African air transport liberalisation have already been agreed. What remains is the political will to apply them fully, open traffic rights in practice and remove the restrictions that continue to limit African air connectivity.
The African Union has declared 2027 the year of “Leveraging the Full Potential of Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) and New Technologies for Continental Integration”, aligning the year with the 25th anniversary of SAATM. The declaration places aviation liberalisation within the wider continental integration agenda and adds further pressure for delivery before African leaders reconvene on the next phase of implementation.
There is a long policy history behind the process. The Yamoussoukro Decision dates back to 1999, while SAATM was launched in 2018. President Paul Kagame chaired the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union in 2018, initiating reforms and opening several important areas of work. SAATM and the African Continental Free Trade Area are among the outcomes of that reform period.
H.E. Lerato Mataboge, African Union Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, echoed the implementation focus, stressing that the 2027 aviation agenda cannot be delivered by the Commission alone. The next phase will require what she described as an “all-hands-on-deck” approach, bringing together airlines, regulators, financiers, academic institutions and other stakeholders.
Central to that next phase is the development of a compendium of investable aviation projects. These could include airline hubs, air navigation systems and aviation technologies. Mataboge emphasised that SAATM cannot remain a policy statement. It needs to be supported by bankable projects and the financing required to implement them.
The timeline is tight. According to the Commissioner, the project pipeline and associated financing work need to be advanced within six months, ahead of reporting back to African Heads of State in February 2027. The message from the opening session was that political support has been given, and that responsibility now sits with the aviation sector and its partners to deliver.
Skills development was also identified as a core part of the continent’s aviation transformation agenda. Mataboge said Africa cannot continue to rely on imported expertise and needs a long-term aviation skills plan capable of supporting sector growth, technology adoption and operational resilience.
The discussion also pointed to the need for a shift in how aviation is understood. Air transport cannot be treated only as a mode of travel for a limited segment of the market. It needs to be positioned as a catalyst for trade, tourism, investment and broader economic development.
Togo’s own positioning added weight to that message. The country has presented aviation as a development priority that should sit at the centre of national economic planning, rather than being treated as a technical portfolio reserved for sector specialists. That approach requires political backing at the highest level and clear inclusion in national development strategies.
This is particularly relevant following Togo’s recent move to abolish visas for African citizens, a policy step linked to wider efforts to support mobility, trade and connectivity across the continent. For Togo, opening borders and opening skies form part of the same integration agenda.
The case for action is direct. African integration must happen through the skies as much as through road corridors. Intra-African connectivity remains weak, and passengers too often still need to travel via Europe or the Gulf to connect between two African capitals. That reality is incompatible with the continent’s economic ambitions.
Africa cannot build a single market of 1.3 billion people while its skies remain closed. Open skies are not just an aviation-sector preference, but a condition for the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
That relationship between trade and aviation was one of the clearest points to emerge from the opening session. As AFCAC Secretary General Adefunke Adeyemi highlighted, “AFCFTA creates the market, but SATAM connects it.”
“The opportunity is immense, the political will is ripe, and this is the time for us.”
Adeyemi also placed the aviation agenda within a wider transport and infrastructure framework.
“Connectivity is the umbrella. Intermodality is essential. The infrastructure is the supporting backbone, and of course, working in collaboration with the actors who are going to deliver on this.”
The structure of the Convention itself reflects that wider approach. Aviation, trade and finance are being brought into the same discussion, rather than being treated as separate policy streams.
As Adeyemi noted: “Typically aviation talks to itself, trade people talk to themselves, and the finance people talk to themselves. For this event it is the first time where we collaboratively organize this event so that we can all not just talk to each other but also work together and deliver together.”
The opening of the African Air Transport Convention and Exhibition therefore comes at a critical point for SAATM. The policy framework is established, the number of signatories has grown, routes have been opened and Fifth Freedom capacity has increased. Yet the remaining barriers continue to limit the full impact of liberalisation.
For African aviation, the next phase will be judged less by declarations and more by execution: regulatory alignment, open access, practical traffic rights, investable projects, aviation skills, financing and the removal of restrictions that continue to fragment the continent’s air transport market.
The message from Lomé is that one African sky remains possible, but it now depends on implementation.
