West Africa plans to establish regional air carrier

 The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is planning to establish a regional air carrier to ease transportation challenges in the sub-region, the 15-member bloc has said.

The president of the Commission, Amb. James Gbeho, who addressed reporters on Friday against the backdrop of the achievements recorded by the bloc as it marked its 36th anniversary, said the new carrier would be a private sector-driven venture.

Gbeho blamed member-states for poor management and collapse of their national carriers.

"It has become increasingly difficult to fly from one country to the other within the sub-region, the airline companies are so erratic in their schedule, so we are meeting in order to operationalize ECOAIR," he added.

"I met with stakeholders in the sector and their response was encouraging, I intend to further meet with operators to encourage them to come together and form an amalgamation of West African airlines, through the partnership," he said.

"They can get financing through larger capitalization and be able to access and tap into resources of member nations," Gbeho told reporters.

He said with a grant of 63.8 million euros from the EU, the bloc had also begun the process of implementing its transport and transit facilitation program.

He said the major part of this will involve the construction of five joint border-posts along major corridors in the region, this is the first major step toward the elimination of internal borders.

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