ABSTRACT
Among all the continents, Africa is regarded as the one where airline services are the least developed. Few African countries have seen much competition between airlines in the provision of domestic services. In the Yamoussoukro Declaration of 1988, African governments gave in-principle support to having a single African airspace that would give African airlines access to all routes within Africa. For some years, the government-owned flag carrier South African Airways (SAA) has faced a significant full-service rival, the privately owned Comair. The main public-policy issue concerning SAA is the long-running financial support given by the South African government, and intended to fund restructuring of the airline, in order to make it efficient and profitable. The established South African cargo company, Safair, set up a subsidiary, FlySafair, which intended to enter the domestic (RSA) market as a low-fare passenger airline. Some of the countries then established individual government-owned carriers, whose fortunes have varied markedly, as have the mechanisms of control.
