Date: 14/06/2011
Source: The Department of Transport
Title: SA: Ndebele: Address by the Minister of Transport, on the signing of the Bilateral Air Services agreement with Cameroon, Cape Town

History of relations
Diplomatic relations between the Republics of South Africa and Cameroon date back to April 1994. During 2006, South Africa and Cameroon signed a general co-operation agreement, a trade agreement and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on economic co-operation. These agreements set the framework for the strengthening of relations and business activity between the two countries.
Air travel
South Africa and Cameroon are both signatory to the Yamoussoukro Declaration (YD). There are direct flights from Johannesburg to Douala and Yaounde with South African Airways. Kenya Airways has connection via Nairobi.
South Africa Policy
Since signing into law of the Yamoussoukro Decision by Africa’s Heads of State in July 2000, South Africa has since made effective policy measures. In July 2006, Cabinet approved the Airlift Strategy which sets out to achieve an increase in air traffic frequencies ahead of demand. These frequencies form the basis of the various air services agreements, which South Africa has in place with other African countries.
The strategy of creating capacity ahead of demand allows for greater market access to support growth and competition in the air transport sector. Whilst the strategy was developed based on policy directives and as a specific response to the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGISA), the implementation of the strategy has to date substantially increased air traffic movements from key targeted markets in the world which included key airport hub points that transit a large volume of passengers and goods.
Bilateral air service agreement between South Africa and Cameroon
This Agreement embraces the market liberalisation principles/key elements of (YD) to enhance connectivity and stimulate Trade and Tourism between South Africa and Cameroon. This agreement is the first of its kind to be signed between South Africa and Cameroon.
Regional integration
The intra-Africa market has not developed at the same rate, despite the signing into law of the Yamoussoukro Decision by Africa’s Heads of State in July 2000.The Yamoussoukro Decision was intended to be Africa’s “Open Skies Policy”, with unrestricted traffic rights between City Pairs to and from countries within Africa. (Domestic Traffic Rights were excluded from this agreement.)As of today, the governments of Africa have not yet implemented the Yamoussoukro Decision, although on a small scale some like-minded States apply the principles of Yamoussoukro, but not on a continental-wide basis. Implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision would have been the biggest single development in African aviation history, and apart from the benefits to the airlines and passengers, it would have made a significant contribution to the national economies of African States.
The linking of City Pairs within Africa either from the perspective that the City Pairs are not currently operated, or they are operated with limited capacity as a consequence of Bilateral Air Service Agreements, would have eliminated the necessity to access cities from the South of the Continent to the North of the Continent via European points, if only the rights to operate and determine capacity was left to the airlines own discretion. It is common knowledge that because of capacity and bilateral constraints, certain parts of Africa, either on a North/South or East/West axis, can only be accessed via Europe. This makes no business or economic sense, and the peoples and economies of Africa suffer as a consequence, and opportunities for improved aviation, including profitability and development of tourism, cannot be effectively responded to.
By comparison, the European Union implemented an Open Skies Policy in the mid-nineties, and within a period of five years the number of City Pairs operated doubled, passengers carried doubled, air fares reduced, the number of airlines increased, and the profitability of the airlines improved significantly. There has to be a message in this for African aviation, and the sooner we understand the consequences of lost opportunities the better.