Ministers agree to free skies policy

The West and Central African economic communities, ECOWAS and CEMAC, have endorsed a plan for an open skies policy of their airspace over the next three years. They said in a joint communique on Thursday that the plan, adopted during a meeting of aviation ministers, goes into effect this month and must be fully implemented by June 2004. The agreement eliminates existing air traffic restrictions on airlines, thereby enabling them to operate passenger services point within the regions. The accord calls for the creation of an economic regulatory agency and a common international standard of safety for all carriers in the regions. Member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) are also required to encourage greater competition to improve efficiency of airline services. The plan's implementation, whose framework was approved in August 2000, had been delayed due to a lack of regional consensus.