9 African Airlines Operate 5th Freedom Routes To Cameroon

The Director General of the Cameroon Civil Aviation Authority (CCAA), Mrs. Paule Avomo Assoumou Koki, has said the Cameroon Civil Aviation Authority (CCAA) ensured growth of Cameroon’s portfolio of Air Service Agreement (ASA) with the establishment of a new ASA with Cape Verde, as well as the reviewing of existing ASA with Gabon, Togo, Senegal and Morocco, respectively. The CCAA also signed the ASA with Canada.

The CCAA focused on activities such as “civil aviation safety and security oversight, air transport development, operation of aeronautical services that the State has not conceded, as well as the implementation of security measures at airports, and development of aviation skills,” when air traffic was gradually recovering from the disastrous effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the aviation sector. She said CCAA’s major achievements for the year 2022 include the certification of Yaounde-Nsimalen International Airport; certification of a new commercial air transport company; issuing of an operating licence to one new foreign airline and commissioning of the new lighting system at Bafoussam Airport.

Other notable achievements of the CCAA include the renewal of CCAA’s Training School Approval as an Associate Member of the Trainair Plus Programme; the completion of construction work of CCAA’s Training School main campus, asll as the launching of CCAA Training School’s first long term one year training programme for Certificate in Aircraft Maintenance and Recycling. The Cameroon CAA also developed a strategic plan for the period 2023 – 2030, while it achieved the maintenance of CCAA ISO 9001:2015 Certificate for safety oversight system and operation of Bafoussam airport.

Mrs. Koki said the CCAA faces the challenge of establishing an effective system for economic oversight of aviation activities, as it also needs funding to develop skills for core jobs. The CCAA DG solicited the support of the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC in drafting the legal framework on economic oversight, capacity building of Staff on economic oversight and legal advice, as well as funding for the CCAA CCAA Training School.

Since the entry into force of the Yamoussoukro Decision (DY) on the liberalisation of air transport in Africa, Cameroon has systematically granted fifth freedom traffic rights to the eligible airlines that apply for the latter. It is actually following the launch of SAATM that Cameroon signed its solemn engagement to join on 22 November 2018.

During the negotiations of air services agreements with YD States over the past twenty years, emphasis has been placed on their compliance with the provisions of this instrument.

For a better implementation of SAATM, Cameroon intends to continue to update its air service agreements in order to comply with the provisions of the Yamoussoukro Decision. Already, CCAA reviewed several ASAs signed with other African countries at the ICAN 2022 in Abuja, Nigeria. The CCAA intends to sign air service agreements with other States that have joined SAATM, and will also raise awareness on SAATM through workshops for all Cameroon civil aviation sector stakeholders. Interestingly, Cameroon will be celebrating the anniversary of Yamoussoukro Decision (YD) on November 14, she said.

Mrs. Koki said that Cameroon is one of the member countries of the Single African Air Transport Market Pilot Implementation Project (SAATM PIP), a major project for the development of air transport in Africa expected to speed up the implementation of SAATM and related benefits of improved connectivity on intra-African routes, reduced travel times and lower fares. She said nine African airlines are performing 5^th Freedom flights in to Cameroon, with Allied Air and Kenya Airways doing freight services.

Routes operated under 5th freedom as part of the implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision

⁽¹⁾ 2023 Summer flight schedule

source: AFCAC