Open Skies

A couple of weeks back I went on a trip to West Africa that involved, amongst others, the following flights: Johannesburg to Accra, Ghana on Air Namibia; Accra to Monrovia, Liberia on Kenya Airways; and Monrovia back to Accra on Ethiopian Airways. What makes this interesting? The point is that all of those flights were on airlines from countries that were neither the start nor end point of the journey. This is an example of the “fifth freedom” of the air, whereby an airline starts a journey in its own country, proceeds to a second country, and can then pick up passengers and proceed to a third country, and vice versa. South Africa, Ghana and Liberia subscribe to this “fifth freedom”, one of the key components of an “open skies” policy with regard to air travel. What is the result? Well, for Ghana, the outcome is that Accra is a bustling air transport hub for West Africa, with flights to many regional and international destinations operated by a range of airlines, almost all of which are not based in Ghana.

What about Botswana? Unfortunately we don’t grant fifth freedom rights, even though under the Yamoussoukro Declaration, African countries are in principle committed to such open skies liberalisation. So, for example, the Kenya Airways flight from Nairobi to Harare and Gaborone cannot transport passengers between Harare and Gaborone. Apparently this has been blocked by Air Botswana who consider Gaborone-Harare to be one of “their” routes. The result: fewer air transport connections for Botswana.

Wouldn’t the granting of such fifth freedom rights help to establish Botswana as a regional air transport hub, as has been cited as a government policy objective? Of course it would. I am reliably informed that KQ has offered to operate a flight on the Gaborone-Lusaka-Nairobi route, on condition that they have traffic rights between Gaborone and Lusaka. Again, blocked by Air Botswana. Result: no direct flights between Botswana and Zambia.

Open skies liberalisation of air transport in the European Union was one of the main factors behind the dramatic growth and falling cost of air travel in Europe. Extensive evidence shows that when air travel is liberalised, inefficient state-owned airlines may suffer from increased competition, but the overall benefits – from, say, lower air fares and increased jobs in the tourism industry – far outweigh any losses. It is time for Botswana to take the plunge and fully liberalise air travel, and not let narrow vested interests block policy reform that is in the overall national interest.