AN ANNOUNCEMENT by the Common Market for eastern and southern Africa (Comesa) that it plans to launch its own airline to serve the 21 nations linked to it, has been met with scepticism by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
A DTI spokesman told FTW this week that Comesa was 'making grandiose claims' and would neither have the necessary finance nor the cargo and passenger requirements to maintain costs of such a service.
They are in competition with Southern African Development Community (SADC), of which we are a member, and are trying to prove their superiority, but it won't happen, said the spokesman.
Comesa director of infrastructure development Jerome Nitbarekerwa said in Lusaka last week that the plan to establish an airline, which he said should be operating by October, was 'part of the first phase in the liberalisation of air transport services in the Comesa region.'
The introduction of the airline would expedite movement of intra-Comesa air cargo and non-scheduled passenger services in the region, notwithstanding the characteristic competitive scenario precipitated by integrated global economies, he said.
The capitals of all 21 countries in the member countries would be served on a directly linked route, he said, which would oppose the present arrangements in which connections and transhipments were necessary.
Some of the countries they involve are also SADC members, said the DTI spokesman. We have heard from them that they have been advised of this project, but none seem to be particularly enthusiastic about it.
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