The Director-General of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, Air-Commodore Kwame Mamphey has been elected to the Chairmanship of the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC) during the organ's recently ended 23rd Plenary session held in Accra. |
| Kwame Mamphey |
The African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC) was created by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the then Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1964. AFCAC was fully established and began functionning in 1969 and on 11 May, 1978 became an OAU Specialized Agency in the field of Civil Aviation. From inception, AFCAC was technically, administratively and financially managed by the ICAO through African member State’s contributions but became autonomous from ICAO management on 1st January 2007.
AFCAC today comprises 54 African States and is managed through a triennial Plenary (consisting of all member States). The Bureau is made up of a President, 5 vice-presidents (representing North, West, East, Central and South African Regions) and the Coordinator of the African Group at the ICAO Council and the Secretariat is headed by a Secretary General.
Air-Commodore Kwame Mamphey will hold AFCAC's chair for the next three years and has gone on record as saying that his tenure will aim to confront various obstacles, namely safety and the liberalization of Africa's skies.
He indicated that AFCAC has some challenges in terms of “implementation of some of the decisions from the Ministers of State, the Abuja Declaration that was talked about, the Yamoussoukro Declaration that was talked about and it is for us in our tenure to ensure that these things come to fruition.”
Source [Citifmonline]
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Kwame's comments came on the back of IATA's recently released figures for February that show "demand growth is accelerating on the back of stronger business confidence, particularly in emerging regions." African airlines’ traffic climbed 7.7% compared to February 2012, second best among the global regions, while capacity rose 3.9%, boosting the load factor 2.3 percentage points to 65.2%. The rise in load factor commenced in mid-2012, supported by an increase in demand and also from tighter capacity management. Strong economic growth in many African nations - especially those in West Africa - was driving the demand and expansion.
Intra-African premium air traffic grew by 14.7 percent last year‚ while economy traffic increased by 11.5 percent compared with global international air traffic growth of 4.8 percent and 5.9 percent respectively.
Speaking at the Plenary Session, Ghana's Minister of Transport, Dzifa Attivor, added that, while growth in the African market was cause for celebration, Africa-Africa market integration still left much to be desired both in terms of route development, and affordability.
Intra-African premium air traffic grew by 14.7 percent last year‚ while economy traffic increased by 11.5 percent compared with global international air traffic growth of 4.8 percent and 5.9 percent respectively.
Speaking at the Plenary Session, Ghana's Minister of Transport, Dzifa Attivor, added that, while growth in the African market was cause for celebration, Africa-Africa market integration still left much to be desired both in terms of route development, and affordability.
"Despite progress made in aviation in the region, it is sad to say that it is easier to travel to Europe, with a foreign airline than with an African airline, adding that the absence of East-West connection in Africa and the seemingly cost of fares is a worrying factor that urgently needs to be addressed.”