The 30th Ordinary Summit of the African Union (AU) Assembly of Heads of States and Government Summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in January 2018 launched the Single African Air Market (SAATM). Following the Decisions by the AU Heads of States Summit to fast track the implementation of SAATM, in January 2019 the AUC in collaboration with AFCAC set up the SAATM Joint Prioritized Action Plan involving all partners and key stakeholders in the implementation of SAATM.

During the 3rd SAATM Stakeholders’ Meeting held  in Dakar, Senegal, from 30-31 January, 2020, the African Union Commission (AUC) as Lead Agency of the Activity 3, Pillar 4 (Aviation Infrastructure) of the JPAP/SAATM, in collaboration with supporting agencies (AFCAC, ICAO, IATA, AFRAA, ANSPs/RECs, Africa JPO) was requested to quickly undertake an independent Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) of the SBAS to assist Member States take an informed decision on the implementation of SBAS in Africa under aviation as well as non-aviation applications

The continental CBA Study on SBAS was finalized in May 2022 after important review and inputs from the SBAS Project steering committee chaired by AFCAC and involving the industry partners (IATA and AFRAA). It was conducted by an independent consultant DT-Global through ISM mechanism.

In-line with above mentioned decisions, the AUC in collaboration with AFCAC and JPO successfully organized and convened the Continental Workshop to review the Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) study report on SBAS Implementation in Africa at Marriot Hotel in Kigali, Rwanda from 30 to 31 May 2022. The SBAS Continental Workshop which was held in hybrid mode gathered 70 on-site participants and 90 participants connected via zoom from the AU member States, regional and international organizations and key partners in the area of SBAS: IGAD, EAC, COMESA, ECOWAS, AFRAA, ICAO, IATA, ASECNA, , EU, AUC/DIE, AUC/ESTI, AUC/ARBE, AFCAC, ACAO, AUDA-NEPAD, EUD, DT- GLOBAL, TA TO AU/ISM, AfDB, WORLD BANK, SATNAV JPO, AIRLINES, AIRPORTS, and other ANSPs Experts

Following the presentation of the study report to participants, a consensus was reached on the results which were positive provided that there were:

  • No mandatory requirements by regulatory authorities to fit SBAS equipment to aircraft,
  • No unjustified restrictions to operations due to a lack of SBAS equipment; and
  • No costs or charges related to SBAS being imposed directly or indirectly on airspace users who do not use such technology.

AUC and AFCAC were requested to submit the recommendations of the continental CBA Study on SBAS for consideration by the AU Policy Organs.