By Geraldine Onyenweaku
Aviation experts and industry stakeholders have renewed calls for the effective implementation of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), eight years after the initiative was launched.
Designed to liberalise Africa’s aviation market, SAATM has yet to be fully implemented by participating African governments, limiting its potential to promote seamless air connectivity and market access across the continent.
In a renewed effort to advance the initiative, the 2026 Annual Lecture of the Sam Adurogoboye Professional Training and Consultancy Organisation (SAPTCO), scheduled for November 5 in Lagos, will focus on unlocking the African aviation market.
The lecture is expected to bring together aviation professionals and other stakeholders to examine the factors preventing SAATM from delivering on its promise of an integrated and liberalised African air transport market.
According to SAPTCO Managing Consultant, Sam Adurogoboye, the lecture will be delivered by Iyabo Sosina, a former Secretary-General of the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC), who played a significant role in the development and launch of SAATM during her tenure at the continental aviation body.
Adurogoboye said the event would provide a platform for stakeholders to critically examine the challenges hindering the initiative’s implementation and chart a new course for Africa’s aviation sector.
He said the lecture would also seek to refocus African leaders’ attention on SAATM’s original objectives, including air transport liberalisation, open skies, traffic rights and the implementation of the 1999 Yamoussoukro Decision.
SAATM is considered a critical component of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), as efficient air connectivity is essential to facilitating the movement of people, goods and services, as well as investment, across the continent.
Adurogoboye lamented that the ambitious initiative had yet to achieve the level of integration and market access envisaged at its inception. He expressed optimism that its effective implementation would improve connectivity, stimulate economic growth and reduce operating costs across the continent.
He added that removing barriers to market access and creating a more integrated African aviation market would enable airlines to expand their networks while providing passengers with more travel options.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, is expected to attend the event as Special Guest of Honour, while the Director-General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Chris Najomo, will serve as Guest of Honour.
A former NCAA Director-General, Dr Harold Demuren, who delivered the inaugural SAPTCO Lecture last year, will attend as Father of the Day.