SAATM’s new push promises 108 routes, cheaper fares—and faster cargo

Friday 12th September 2025

By Inafrika Reporter

Africa’s Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM)—often treated as a policy slogan—looked more like an operating system this month. The African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC) reports 108 new intra-African routes since late 2022, carrying an additional 2.9 million passengers; 19 of those routes use “fifth-freedom” rights that let airlines serve third countries, the lifeblood of a truly open market. Regulators and industry groups say the building blocks—competition rules, consumer protection, dispute settlement—are now in place to scale. Translation: more frequencies, wider networks, and growing price competition on city pairs that used to require detours through non-African hubs.

Momentum is also political and technical. Thirty-eight AU member states have signed SAATM’s Solemn Commitment, while COMESA/EAC/IGAD/SADC are validating model bilateral air-services agreements—the legal scaffolding that converts leaders’ communiqués into slot allocations and schedules. Backed by EU technical support, those templates help civil aviation authorities and ministries harmonise terms so airlines can plan multi-country growth with less regulatory whiplash.

Why it matters beyond airfare: connectivity is a growth multiplier. For exporters of perishables—from Kenyan flowers and Ugandan fish to Tanzanian avocados—more direct belly cargo means fresher arrivals and lower spoilage. For conferences and sports, more point-to-point flights cut time and visa friction. Tourism boards can stitch city-breaks and safari-coast circuits across borders, and e-commerce platforms can justify bonded warehouses when timetables are reliable. SAATM’s data already indicate downward pressure on fares where competition has arrived; the systemic prize is denser networks that make intra-African value chains viable.

Still, execution is everything. Airlines need predictable fuel taxes, airport charges, and ground-handling rules; without these, new freedoms won’t translate into sustainable yields. Safety oversight and slot governance must keep pace as frequencies rise. And governments must resist protectionist reflexes that shield a flag carrier at the expense of consumers and exporters. The good news: industry and regulators just endorsed a model BASA to speed liberalisation, and AFCAC is pushing a “finish the job” agenda to close the gap between commitments and actual seats in the market.

For East African businesses, the to-do list is clear. Cargo owners should re-bid logistics with SAATM-enabled routings, testing whether faster paths can replace expensive buffer stock. Airports can pursue fifth-freedom stopovers that add frequencies without waiting for a home carrier to scale. Destination managers should align calendars (sports, festivals, trade fairs) with airline planning windows to anchor seasonal capacity. And civil aviation/competition authorities must keep publishing transparent, public dashboards on slots, charges, and performance—so investors can trust the rules as much as the runways. The sky won’t open in a day, but it is opening—route by route, schedule by schedule